SANYA, April 23 (Xinhua) -- China made a golden start at the sixth Asian Beach Games on Thursday as husband-and-wife duo Fan Junjie and Lin Xinyu won the men's and women's aquathlon titles respectively, claiming the first two gold medals of the Games.
Aquathlon, making its debut at the Asian Beach Games, features a 2.5-km run, followed by a 1-km swim and another 2.5-km run. Fan clocked 28 minutes and 20 seconds to win the men's race, finishing 10 seconds ahead of teammate Teng Yunfeng, while Pan Tzu-I of Chinese Taipei took bronze.
"I'm extremely excited to win the first gold medal for the Chinese delegation and deliver a strong start," said Fan. "Competing at home, I gave everything to keep the gold in China."
Lin continued China's dominance by winning the women's race in 31 minutes and 34 seconds. Cambodia's Margot Morokot Garabedian finished second, 26 seconds behind, while China's Lu Meiyi secured bronze.
In jiu-jitsu, three gold medals were awarded on the opening day, with the United Arab Emirates taking two titles. Khaled Al Shehhi won the men's -62kg category, and Asma Al Hosani topped the podium in the women's -52kg event.
The Philippines claimed the remaining gold as Alexandria Luz Enriquez defeated Lee Yeon-ji of South Korea in the women's -63kg final.
In beach kabaddi, Iran's men's team beat defending champion Pakistan 38-28, while title favorite India advanced to the women's semifinals with a victory over Sri Lanka.
A total of eight gold medals will be decided on Friday across women's water polo, beach athletics, dragon boat and jiu-jitsu. ■
