by sportswriter Li Jia
NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese teenager Yu Zidi's sensational Asian record propelled China's gold-medal charge on day two of the 2026 Asian Games on Monday, while Thai badminton player Pitchamon Opatniputh became the first known doping case of the Games.
Pitchamon, 19, tested positive for the banned substance furosemide and was provisionally suspended.
The International Testing Agency said an out-of-competition sample collected from Opatniputh in Nagoya on September 17 returned an Adverse Analytical Finding for furosemide. The substance is listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency as a specified substance prohibited at all times under the category of diuretics and masking agents.
China claimed two shooting golds, including a world record, and five swimming titles, while Zhang Boheng won the men's gymnastics all-around gold to round off another prolific day for the delegation.
In the pool, 13-year-old Yu maintained her stunning form. She came from behind to win the women's 200-meter individual medley in an Asian record of 2 minutes, 6.10 seconds, with teammate and defending champion Yu Yiting second in 2:07.99. Japan's Mio Narita took bronze in 2:10.40.
Yu's winning time was just 0.40 seconds off the world record set by Canada's Summer McIntosh.
"I feel even happier winning this second gold medal than I did with the first one," Yu said.
Her performance produced the first Asian swimming record of the Games. Yu made her Asian Games debut by winning the 200 butterfly on Sunday.
The excitement peaked in the men's 4x200 freestyle relay. Japan led for the first 750 meters as China stayed close behind. Pan Zhanle narrowed the gap on the third leg before Zhang Zhanshuo took the lead in the closing stages to give China gold in an Asian record of 7:00.17.
Japan took silver in 7:01.05, while South Korea claimed bronze in 7:06.76.
Adding to China's swimming success, backstroke specialist Xu Jiayu successfully defended his men's 50 backstroke title in a Games-record 24.04, while Wan Letian and Wang Xue'er finished 1-2 in the women's 50 backstroke.
China's Dong Zhihao and Japan's Shin Ohashi shared gold in the men's 100 breaststroke in 58.64, while defending champion Qin Haiyang took bronze.
South Korea claimed its first swimming gold of the Games as Kim Yeong-beom won the men's 50 freestyle, while defending champion Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China took the women's 200 freestyle title.
In shooting, China swept the men's 10-meter air rifle individual and team gold medals, setting a world record in the team event.
The trio of Zhang Changhong, Sheng Lihao and Ma Sihan combined for 1,899.0 points to take team gold, breaking the previous world record of 1,898.4. India won silver with 1,890.1, while South Korea claimed bronze with 1,884.2.
In gymnastics, China's Zhang Boheng retained the men's all-around title. Fresh from winning the same event at the Asian championships, the 26-year-old scored 85.065 points to take gold, while Japan's reigning Olympic champion Shinnosuke Oka and 2021 Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto finished second and third, respectively.
Zhang had finished runner-up to Oka at the Paris Olympics and to Hashimoto at last year's World Championships.
"Gymnastics keeps progressing, and both Japanese all-around gymnasts have very high levels of difficulty and execution," Zhang said.
China's success extended to other disciplines, with Lin Xinyu, Li Mingxu, Huang Anqi and Zhang Xirui winning the triathlon mixed relay in 1:25:54.
Gong Li and Li Qiaoqiao added karate gold medals in the women's kumite 61-kilogram and 68-kilogram categories, respectively.
In team sports, China's women's football team thrashed the Philippines 5-1 in Group G, while the women's volleyball team edged Thailand 3-2 to avenge its defeat in last month's Asian Championship final and advanced to the gold-medal match. China's women's basketball team beat Indonesia 110-41 in Group A.
After two days of competition, China led the medal table with 23 gold, 10 silver and five bronze medals. Japan was second with eight gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze, followed by South Korea with five gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze. ■
