In the women's relay, Japan came from behind to win in 44.88 seconds, while China surrendered its lead in the third leg before crossing the line in 45.37. -Xinhua

Japan bounced back to outshine its arch rival China Thursday on Day three of the athletics competition at the East Asian Games, pocketing 10 out of 13 gold medals at stake.

China, which bagged 18 gold medals over the last two days against Japan's four, picked up the three other, in the men's javelin, men's long jump and women's 1,500m.

In a demonstration of its depth in sprinters, Japan swept both 4x100m relay events.

China had to replace Jin Ke with triple jumper Gu Junjie in themen's relay team after Jin injured his leg in Tuesday's 100m final.

The makeshift Chinese team finished a disappointed third in 39.90 seconds, just 0.01 second behind runners-up Chinese Taipei. Japan crossed the line in 39.61.

"The four of us never ran a relay together," said Hu Kai, who was crowned the EAG fastest man Tuesday.

"We tried our best, so we don't really regret for it," added the 23-year-old student in China's prestigious Tsinghua University.

In the women's relay, Japan came from behind to win in 44.88 seconds, while China surrendered its lead in the third leg before crossing the line in 45.37.

"I feel great pains in my right leg, so I couldn't run fast," said Ni Xiaoli, who ran China's third leg.

"But I tried my best," she added.

Early in the morning, Doi Hiroaki started the flurry of Japanese gold in the men's hammer throw, winning with a toss of 70.35 meters. South Korea's Lee Yoon-chul was second with 66.40m. Hou Fei grabbed the bronze for Macao with a distant 37.14m throw.

Toshinari Fumimoto then narrowly beat South Korean Huh Jang-kyuin the men's half marathon, clocking 1 hour 08 minutes 14 seconds.Huh was just three seconds behind.

Another South Korean Eom Hyo-seok finished third in 1:08.38.

Yoshiko Ichikawa won the women's half marathon in a time of 1: 16:31, ahead of South Korean Lim Kyung-hee in 1:16:33 and DPR Korean Jong Yong-ok in 1:18:48.

Yoshitaka Iwamizu led a 1-2 Japanese finish in the three-man 3,000m steeplechase, winning in 8:40.16. Teammate Yasunori Uchitomi came second in 8:45.47 and Wu Wen-chien of Chinese Taipei was third in 8:50.41.

Japanese Takuro Mori won the weirdest pole vault in the world as he cleared 5.00 meters with the other two competitors scoring no mark, which means no medal for them.

Mori, whose personal best is 5.30 meters, flew over the 5-meterbar in his first attempt and failed three times at 5.20.

Zhang Hongwei of China and Satoru Yasuda of Japan, who both have a better record than Mori, skipped the 5m mark and faced up to 5.20.

Both failed, and thus no medal.

Asami Tanno grabbed another gold for Japan by winning the women' s 400m final in 52.69.

China's Tang Xiaoyin and Xie Qing finished second and third respectively.

Japan also won the men's 400m and 1,500m, which Chinese competitors didn't enter.

Three-time Asian champion Hi Rongxiang underscored his No. one status in men's javelin as the 33-year-old Chinese veteran threw 79.75 meters to win the title. His fellow countryman Chen Qi took silver in 76.96m, and South Korea's Chu Ki-young had bronze in 75.59.

In the men's long jump, China's Song Jian won gold with a leap of 7.77m, a result that was not enough to earn a bronze medal at last month's Chinese National Games.

Japan's Kenji Fujikawa came second in 7.73, with South Korean Oh Sangwon third in 7.72.

China defended its dominance in women's long-distance running events when Xie Sainan clocked 4:20.54 to win the 1,500m final.

Japan's Kaori Kumasaka had silver in 4:21.77, and South Korean Bae Haejin bronze in 4:30.56.