Competition at the Beijing Paralympics got underway Sunday as the United States and Britain won four gold medals each for an early lead in the race for most medals. China captured three gold but led the overall medal count with 13, against the Americans with nine and Britain obtaining seven.

Du Jianping earned the host country's first gold at the Games when he won the men's 100m freestyle in the S3 class in a world record time of one minute 42.95 seconds.

Cui Na and Guo Huaping then added a double gold in judo for China, who topped the medal table at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 with 63 gold and is expected to dominate again on home soil.

The Americans continued their dominance in swimming by winning four gold medals at the Water Cube, but South Africa's Natalie du Toit was the biggest star. Britain's cyclists started the Games with a hat-trick of gold¡¯s, while Australia took away the other two contested in track cycling.