by sportswriter Li Jia
NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's 13-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi completed an individual event hat-trick at the 2026 Asian Games here on Wednesday, while DPR Korea opened its gold medal account thanks to female weightlifters.
Yu continued her stunning performance at the Games, claiming her third gold by winning the women's 400m individual medley after victories in the 200m fly and 200m IM. She led all the way to touch in a Games record of 4:28.56.
"I gained a lot from this Asian Games but there were also some regrets," she said.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Zhang Zhanshuo claimed his third title by winning the men's 200m freestyle before helping China win the mixed 4x100m medley relay for his fourth. Zhang surged in the final meters to overtake South Korea's Hwang Sunwoo, setting a new Asian record of 1:43.49.
Also in the pool, Peng Xuwei won the women's 100m backstroke in 59.30, while Yu Yiting edged out teammate Zhang Yufei by just 0.03 seconds to win the women's 100m butterfly in 56.41.
Adding to China's medal haul, Tang Qianting set a Games record of 1:04.98 to win the women's 100m breaststroke.
The only remaining swimming gold the day went to Japan's Shoon Mitsunaga in men's 100m fly in a Games record time of 50.56, who narrowly defeated China's Xu Fang.
China advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's football as group winner, after securing a 0-0 draw against the United Arab Emirates in its final group match.
Head coach Antonio Puche praised his squad's resilience. "This group has been extremely difficult," the Spaniard remarked. "Every match has been very tough, and today was not different." China will next face Thailand in Saturday's quarterfinals.
The athletics competition kicked off Wednesday with the men's and women's half-marathon race walks. China's Shi Shengji claimed the men's gold medal, while Yang Liujing took the women's crown.
In gymnastics, China defended both men's and women's team titles, while in equestrian, Olympic rider Alex Hua Tian retained his individual eventing title.
In table tennis, China's women's team advanced to the final after sweeping DPRK 3-0 in the semifinal. The men's team similarly dispatched Chinese Taipei 3-0, setting up a gold-medal clash against host Japan. Meanwhile, mixed doubles star pair Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha cruised past Chinese Taipei's Feng Yi-hsin and Yeh Yi-tian 3-0.
On the badminton courts, both China's men's and women's teams made the finals after beating India 3-1 and Indonesia 3-0 respectively. Women's world No. 1 An Se-young won her singles match, but that's not enough to prevent South Korea from losing 3-1 to Japan in the women's team event.
China also continued its dominance in shooting. Jiang Yiting landed a commanding victory in the women's skeet competition. She later teamed up with her teammates to capture the team gold in the event. In the women's 10m air pistol team event, China's trio of Shen Yiyao, Jiang Ranxin and Yao Qianxun won another gold.
Gao Xiaobin and Yao Yang each captured a wushu gold medal to add two more to China's medal tally.
DPR Korea finally secured the delegation's first two gold medals in weightlifting.
Ri Song Gum won the women's 49kg category, setting three world records. She lifted 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk for a dominant total of 215kg.
"I'm really, really happy. I don't even know how to put it into words," said Ri, who secured her third consecutive Asian Games title.
Later, Kang Hyon Gyong gave DPRK the second gold of the day in the women's 53kg. The 27-year-old lifted a total of 223kg, breaking five Games records along the way.
After four days of competition, China leads the medal table with 48 gold, 20 silver and 10 bronze medals. Japan sits second with 15 gold, 25 silver and 27 bronze medals, followed by South Korea with eight gold, eight silver and 25 bronze medals. ■
