HANGZHOU: A total of 31 gold medals were awarded in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, on Sunday. Twenty of them went to athletes from China. South Korea had five golds, followed by Japan and China’s Hong Kong, with two top honors each.
Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping finished the rowing lightweight women’s double sculls final in 7:06.78, securing the first gold of the Asian Games and for China. Chinese rowers continued to dominate the sport after that, pocketing another five golds thanks to excellent performances by Fan Junjie and Sun Man in the lightweight men’s double sculls, Lu Shiyi and Shen Shuangmei in the women’s double sculls, Liu Zhiyu and Zhang Liang in the men’s double sculls, Zhang Shuxian, Liu Xiaoxin, Wang Zifeng and Xu Xingye in the women’s four event as well as Li Wenlei, Chen Xianfeng, Xu Qiao, Lyu Yi, Ji Gaoxing, Cai Pengpeng, Ni Xulin, Nie Yide and Liang Weixiong in the men’s eight event.
36-year-old veteran Zhang Liang became a gold medalist for the fourth consecutive edition of Asian Games. He was a champion in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province in 2010, in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014, in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018, and this time around in Hangzhou, in 2023.
Huang Yuting of China competes in the 10-meter air rifle women final in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, September 24, 2023. /CFP
Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-chun won the first gold for China’s Hong Kong in the rowing men’s pair event.
The young generation of Chinese shooters were ready to carry on the team’s glory in the sport. Huang Yuting, 17, set a new Asian Games record of 252.7 points in the 10-meter air rifle women event to win gold. She also joined her teammates Han Jiayu and Wang Zhilin to win the 10-meter air rifle team women final with 1,896.6 points.
Chinese athletes claimed both golds in wushu on Sunday as well. Veteran Sun Peiyuan won the men’s changquan title for the third straight time in the Asian Games. The women’s taijijian gold went to his compatriot Tong Xin.
Wang Shun of China competes in the swimming men’s 200-meter individual medley final in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, September 24, 2023. /CFP
At the end of Sunday, Chinese swimmers became the best-glittering stars in the Asian Games. They won the golds in all seven events while Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun, Li Bingjie, Pan Zhanle and Xu Jiayu set new records with their performances in the finals. Zhang Yufei broke the Asian Games record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly event by finishing in 2:05.57; Wang Shun had the Asian record of 1:54.62 in the men’s 200-meter individual medley event; Li Bingjie set the new Asian Games record of the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle event in 15:51.18; Pan Zhanle broke the Asian record in the men’s 100-meter freestyle event by finishing the race in 46.97; Xu Jiayu got the new men’s 100-meter backstroke Asian Games record in 52.23.
In the swimming final of the day, Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Wu Qingfeng and Zhang Yufei set the new Asian Games record of the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay event in 3:33.96, giving China’s first day of competitions in the Asian Games a perfect ending.
