Hosts China yesterday swept the first gold medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in a statement of intent on day one of the region’s answer to the Olympics.
China claimed the first gold when Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping dominated the women’s lightweight double sculls rowing to kick off a medal rush for the home nation.
China won 12 of the first 19 golds at the Games, with their rowers especially emphatic. South Korea were their nearest challengers with four golds in total.
Photo: AP
Zou and Qiu finished in 7 minutes, 6.78 seconds in their final, with Uzbekistan’s Luizakhon Islamova and Malika Tagmativa taking silver, almost 10 seconds behind.
It was especially satisfying for Zou, who hails from Hangzhou.
“I am very excited as it’s my first Asian Games,” she said, clutching her gold medal.
“Stepping onto the podium today is a new starting point to help us prepare for next year’s Paris Olympics,” Qiu added.
The hosts soon doubled up on the rowing lake as the men’s lightweight double sculls gold was won by Fan Junjie and Sun Man, who finished five seconds clear of India’s Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh.
China won six of the seven golds at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre rowing venue in the morning, with only Hong Kong’s Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-chun getting in on the party by winning the men’s pairs.
China’s rip-roaring start to the 19th Asian Games also brought golds in modern pentathlon, shooting and wushu.
Swimming is one of the highlights of the Games and China dominated later in the day, breaking records at the Hangzhou Olympic Centre Aquatic Sports Arena.
China’s Olympic gold medalist Wang Shun stormed to the Asian Games men’s 200m medley title in a new Asian record time to easily beat breaststroke king Qin Haiyang.
Wang hit the wall in 1 minute, 54.62 seconds ahead of his Chinese teammate, who scored a clean sweep of all the breaststroke titles at this year’s world championships
Their compatriot Li Bingje powered home to claim the women’s 1500m freestyle title in 15 minutes 51.18 seconds — also a new Games record, while Chinese teenager Tang Qianting won the women’s 50m breaststroke in 29.96 seconds.
Tokyo Olympic champion Zhang Yufei defended her Asian Games 200m butterfly gold with a new Games record time of 2 minutes, 05.57 seconds.
Two-time world champion Xu Jiayu defended his men’s 100m backstroke title in a new Games record time of 52.23 seconds
Elsewhere, India’s female cricketers ripped through Bangladesh, dismissing them for just 51 in the first semi-final.
All-rounder Pooja Vastrakar, who was only drafted into the squad as a last-minute replacement, took four wickets.
They knocked off their target in just 8.2 overs and are to face Sri Lanka in today’s Twenty20 final.
An in-form Sri Lanka, fresh from a stunning T20 series victory in England, beat Pakistan by six wickets.
Other sports beginning yesterday included boxing, rugby sevens, hockey and e-sports — where superstars such as South Korea’s “Faker” were expected to draw huge crowds for the sport’s debut as a full Asian Games medal event.
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