Harbin, Feb. 8 -- South Korea claimed the opening gold at the Harbin Asian Winter Games in the short track speed skating mixed 2,000m relay here on Saturday.

South Korean quartet of Kim Gil-li, Choi Min-jeong, Park Ji-won, and Kim Tae-sung finished first in two minutes and 41.534 seconds.

Kazakhstan took a silver in 2:42.258, while the bronze went to Japan, 1.800 seconds further back.

"We were trailing behind when there were only two laps left in the race, but I wasn't as anxious as I had imagined I would be. I told myself to stay as focused as possible - anything could happen, and it was worthy for a try," Park noted.

"The first final went quite smooth, so I think I might achieve good results in the following competitions as well. ...