by sportswriter Li Jia
NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Puripol Boonson stormed to men's 200m gold in 19.88 seconds to equal the Asian record at the 2026 Asian Games on Sunday, while Uzbekistan's MMA bronze medalist Nodirbek Shavkatov was provisionally suspended after testing positive for meldonium.
Shavkatov, 23, who won bronze in the men's modern MMA 71kg event, became the first medalist and third athlete at these Games to return a positive doping test. No decision has been announced on the status of his medal.
On the track, Boonson completed an Asian Games sprint double, winning the men's 200m in 19.88 to equal the Asian record set by China's Xie Zhenye in 2019. China's Huang Youwen took silver in 20.45, while Japan's Soshi Mizukubo was third in 20.56.
The 20-year-old Thai had broken the Games record with 20.10 in Saturday's semifinal before shaving another 0.22 seconds off the mark despite a slight headwind. He won the 100m on Friday in a Games-record 9.90.
"It's not that different - just more adrenaline and more excitement, and I was more eager to win the gold," Boonson said of his mindset at the Games. "I'm going to aim for more golds and more records. I can't say how fast it's going to be, but there will be more records and faster times."
China's 17-year-old Chen Yujie, winner of the women's 100m, took silver in the 200m in 22.93, 0.15 seconds behind Singapore's Shanti Pereira, who won in 22.78. India's Harita Bhadra was third in 23.20.
Asian record holder Yan Ziyi of China won the women's javelin with a Games-record 70.46 meters on her opening attempt, while compatriot Huang Yingying took the women's long jump gold with a leap of 6.55 meters.
China's Chen Yuanjiang won the men's 110m hurdles in 13.15, while Wu Yanni took bronze in the women's 100m hurdles in 13.12 behind Japan's Mako Fukube.
Japan's Hayato Katsuki won the men's marathon race walk on home soil, while Kazakhstan's Yasmina Toxanbayeva took the women's title.
China claimed two more table tennis golds. Huang Youzheng and Lin Shidong beat Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto and Hiroto Shinozuka 4-2 in the men's doubles final, while Wang Manyu defeated compatriot and Paris Olympic silver medalist Sun Yingsha 4-2 to win the women's singles title.
China also swept the day's synchronized diving titles. Chen Yiwen and Chen Jia won the women's 3-meter springboard synchro, while Yang Hao and Lian Junjie claimed the men's 10-meter platform synchro title.
In artistic swimming, China's Lin Yanjun and Xu Huiyan won the duet title after the free routine, ahead of Japan's Moe Higa and Tomoka Sato.
BMX freestyle park made its Asian Games debut, with China's Sun Sibei recovering from a warm-up crash and a disappointing first run to win with 93.80 points on her second attempt. Japan's Miharu Ozawa took silver with 91.20, while China's Sun Jiaqi claimed bronze with 90.20.
China also struck gold in women's street skateboarding as 15-year-old Zhu Yuanling climbed from fifth in qualifying to win with 166.57 points. Japan's Yumeka Oda earned silver with 161.96, while China's defending champion Cui Chenxi took bronze. World No. 1 Ibuki Matsumoto of Japan finished fifth.
"I'd been practicing that trick in my second run for a long time, and it's one I can usually land, so I didn't feel like I needed to be that nervous," Zhu said. "It's amazing. I still feel a bit dazed. Actually I didn't expect to win gold."
China took the top two places in the men's trampoline super final, with Yan Langyu winning gold with 65.09 points and Wang Zisai taking silver with 63.83.
Weightlifting produced three world records as Song Kuk Hyang of the DPR Korea won the women's 69kg title. Song set a snatch world record of 121kg before lifting a world-record 152kg in the clean and jerk for a world-record total of 273kg.
China took the women's 77kg gold with lifts of 118kg in the snatch and 140kg in the clean and jerk for a 258kg total.
In fencing, Kirill Prokhodov helped Kazakhstan claim its first gold of the competition with a dramatic 43-42 comeback victory over South Korea in the men's epee team final. South Korea won the women's sabre team title after beating host Japan 45-31.
After eight days of competition, China leads the medal table with 119 gold, 48 silver and 38 bronze medals. Japan is second with 37 gold, 61 silver and 58 bronze, while South Korea is third with 20 gold, 23 silver and 39 bronze. ■
