China's Li Meifang successfully defended her Asian Games cycling individual time trial title here on Tuesday to add the gold to her 2004 and 2005 Asian Championship crowns.

Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Zabirova won silver with South Korea's Lee Min Hye claiming bronze.

Li covered the flat 23.86km course in a time of 31:17:85 to win by almost a full minute from Zabirova.

"From the beginning I planned to win," said Li after extending China's record in the event to a perfect four gold. "The road felt good, the surface was beautiful and being flat is good for the required result."

Zabirova admitted she was surprised at the power of the Chinese girl.

"She's in very good form. This is a world result, not an Asian result," she said. "I have seen her before a few times in international competition but she has never performed like this. I was surprised at her strength."

In men’s racing, China's Song Baoqing won the gold medal on Tuesday. Evgeny Vakker of Kyrgyzstan took silver with Andrey Mizurov of Kazakhstan winning bronze.

Asian Games
Doha, Qatar. December 5
Individual time trial
Men
1. Song Baoqing (CHN), 55:33:35
2. Evgeny Vakker (KGZ), 56:06:83
3. Andrey Mizurov (KAZ), 56:51:92

Women
1. Li Meifang (CHN), 31:17:85
2. Zulfiya Zabirova (KAZ), 32:10:24
3. Lee Min Hye (KOR), 33:37:57