KRASNOYARSK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Li Zhonglin scored 87.77 points to take the silver in the freestyle skiing men's aerials on Sunday, awarding China its first medal at the 2019 Winter Universiade.

Maxim Burov of Russia took the gold with 119.91 points and his compatriot Ruslan Katmanov got the bronze.

Li, who won the event two years ago in Almaty, faced great challenge from the home skiers here on Sunday. Li delivered two stable jumps, while Burov completed more difficult jumps to take the title.

The 20-year-old world champion Burov was prominent enough to take the victory as he staged two most difficult jumps with perfect finish in both of them.

"It's a satisfactory result and I feel honored to stand on the same podium with Maxim," said Li.

"I didn't do well in the qualification so I tried my best to stay stable in the final."

Chinese Guo Ziming finished his first jump with 93.93 point for the second place. However, his final jump resulted in a defective landing.

Li said that Guo's mistake influenced him a little bit but he managed to make his own adjustment.

"I hope in Beijing 2022 I can get an Olympic medal", Li added.

In the women's aerials, Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya from Belarus claimed the gold with 100.29 points. Russia Liubov Nikitina and Zhanbota Aldabergenova from Kazakhstan had the silver and bronze respectively.