Team Indonesia celebrates after winning the men's 1,000m dragon boat final at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 6, 2023. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)
China's teenager Wu Shutong won the first Asian Games gold medal in marathon swimming, while the hosts took five out of six golds in dragon boat at the Hangzhou Asiad.
HANGZHOU, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Wu Shutong emerged as the women's 10-kilometer winner in marathon swimming's Asian Games debut, while Indonesia's victory in the men's 1,000m dragon boat race on Friday denied the host nation a clean sweep of titles in the discipline.
Wu, 18, successfully surpassed Japan's Airi Ebina on the final lap, clinching the gold medal with a time of two hours, three minutes and 36.4 seconds. Ebina secured the silver medal, 8.5 seconds behind, while Sun Jiake of China earned the bronze.
Wu Shutong (front) of China competes in the women's 10km of marathon swimming. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)
"I never expected to achieve such results before the competition. I didn't have any special tactics and just gave my utmost," said Wu.
Marathon swimming, also known as open water swimming, was introduced as an Olympic sport at Beijing 2008.
Indonesia lit up the final day of the men's dragon boat competition in Wenzhou, powering through in the last 200m to claim a resounding victory over China.
"From the start, China was very strong. Then, from 200m, we accelerated faster and faster and then we got to the finish line and won the gold medal," said Andri Agus Mulyana of Indonesia.
Team China competes in the women's 1,000m dragon boat final. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)
China romped to an easy victory in the grand final in the women's 1,000m competition, knocking Indonesia into second, while South Korea took bronze.
China bagged all three women's gold medals at the Wenzhou Dragon Boat Center, and five out of six golds on offer.
"The dragon boat spirit is a representation of our national spirit and we have been training hard for a long time," said China coach Chen Zhong. "We want to give honor and glory to dragon boat, a sport that uniquely belongs to China."
South Korea demonstrated its supremacy in archery, clinching both women's and men's recurve team titles.
Star archer An San, a three-time Tokyo Olympic gold medalist, teamed up with Lim Si-hyeon and Choi Mi-sun to win the women's event with a 5-3 victory over China.
An has one more medal to collect in her first Asian Games on Saturday when she takes part in the individual gold medal match against Lim, who snatched her second gold following the mixed title along with Lee Woo-seok.
Lee then captured his second gold at Hangzhou in the men's recurve team event, as he and his compatriots triumphed 5-1 over India.
Liu Huanhua of China competes in the men's 109kg Group A match. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)
In weightlifting, China's Liu Huanhua collected gold in the men's 109kg, while his compatriot Liang Xiaomei took a dominant win in the women's 87kg category.
22-year-old Liu, a gold medalist in the men's 102kg category at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships, lifted 185kg in the snatch and 233kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 418kg, setting Asian Games records in both clean and jerk and total weight.
"The snatch and clean and jerk results I've got are my personal bests," said Liu, adding that he would try his best to win gold at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan, who won gold in the men's 109kg category at the Tokyo Olympic Games, achieved a total of 417kg for the silver medal. His compatriot Ruslan Nurudinov, who took gold in the men's 105kg category at the Jakarta Asian Games, came third with 391kg.
26-year-old Liang, a gold medalist in the women's 81kg at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championships, nailed gold after lifting 120kg in the snatch and 155kg in the clean and jerk for a total 275kg.
Yun Ha-je of South Korea took silver with a total of 252kg, with her compatriot Jung A-ram ranking third with 245kg.
Players compete during the men's basketball final between Jordan and the Philippines. (Xinhua/Pan Yulong)
The Philippines got past Jordan 70-60 for its fifth Asiad men's basketball title and its first since 1962. China regrouped from a semifinal loss to the Philippines with a 101-73 win against Chinese Taipei to claim the bronze.
Japan retained its women's football title with a 4-1 victory over DPR Korea in the final, while China eased past Uzbekistan 7-0 to win the bronze.
Ahead of the final full competition day on Saturday, China held firm to its top place in the medal table with 187 gold, 104 silver and 63 bronze medals. Japan sits second with 47 golds, and South Korea is third with 36 golds. So far, 41 delegations have won at least one medal at these Games. ■
