South Korean swimming superstar Park Tae-hwan powered back to his best at the Asian Games yesterday, but China dominated once again with another 18 gold medals.
The Games saw their first world records with Chinese weightlifter Li Ping setting new marks in the women’s under-53kg class.
Li snatched 103kg to beat the previous best of 102kg set by Ri Song-hui of North Korea at the 2002 Busan Games.
Photo: AFP
The 22-year-old’s best clean and jerk of 127kg was enough to see her rack up a combined total of 230kg to break the previous aggregate best of 226kg set by compatriot Qiu Hongxia in October 2006.
The records complete a hat-trick for Li, who already held the world record for the clean and jerk of 129kg set in April 2007.
Kazakh teenager Chinshanio Zulfiya, the 2009 world champion, took silver, with Olympic champion Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon of Thailand claiming bronze.
Photo: EPA
Li’s victory helped the Chinese juggernaut rumble on from where it left off on the opening day.
They now top the medal table with 37 gold, ahead of South Korea (13) and Japan (8). In a first, Macau won their first gold medal ever, in wushu.
The hosts dominated dance sport, collected five of the six titles in the pool and also tasted success in wushu, track cycling, canoe/kayak and gymnastics, but it wasn’t all one-way traffic, with Park winning his nation’s first gold in the pool, breaking his own Asian record in the 200m freestyle.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Olympic 400m freestyle gold medalist never looked troubled, touching in 1 minute, 44.80 seconds to shave 0.05 seconds off his own record set in 2008.
China’s Sun Yang, ranked No. 1 in the world in the men’s 1,500m freestyle, finished second in 1 minute, 46.25 seconds, with Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda taking the bronze in 1 minute, 47.73 seconds.
“I’m satisfied with the performance because I broke my record,” said a clearly overjoyed Park, who won three gold, a silver and three bronze medals at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. “China is a special place for me, I did well at the Beijing Olympics and tonight I won a gold medal, my first Guangzhou Asian Games gold.”
However, China again set the standard, discovering a new star in 14-year-old Ye Shiwen, who announced her arrival by streaking clear to win the women’s 400m individual medley.
The teenager touched in 4 minutes, 33.79 seconds, more than four seconds clear of better-known compatriot Li Xuanxu, with Taiwan’s Cheng Wan-jung taking bronze.
“This is the first time that I have won a gold medal at such a big event, so it means a lot to me and a lot to my family,” she said.
Japan had a lean day, but did win the men’s triathlon when Yuichi Hosoda completed the 1.5km swim, 40km bike race and 10km run in 1 hour, 52 minutes, 13 seconds.
It was the South Koreans who came good on the shooting ranges, winning four-out-of-four gold, including two by eight-months pregnant Gim Yun-mi.
They also captured the imagination on the cycling track, with Jang Sun-jae winning his fourth Asian Games career title.
“In qualifying, I broke the Asian Games record,” Jang said after winning the the individual pursuit. “Today, in the first round, I did it again, one second faster. In the final, I tried to break it for a third time, but didn’t make it. Anyway, I was confident I would get the gold.”
While fans have turned up to the swimming, weightlifting and shooting in numbers, other venues have been mostly deserted.
That was evident at cricket’s international debut in China on Saturday.
“It was definitely not a nice feeling to see empty stands for what was a historic moment,” Asian Cricket Council spokesman Shahriar Khan said.
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