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Sun’s brilliance warms Asiad pool
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SUN Yang and Ye Shiwen set the seal on China’s dominating pool performance at the Asian Games yesterday, while Qatar’s disappointed women’s basketball team slipped out of South Korea in the dead of night with the row over their hijabs rumbling on.
China took its golden haul to 91 on the seventh day of competition in Incheon, and while South Korea reclaimed second spot from rival Japan by one gold it is unlikely to get anywhere near the 90 titles targeted before the Games.
The South Koreans had factored in a handful of archery golds into their projections but one title they won’t be winning is the men’s team recurve.
Lee Seung-yun, Ku Bon-chan and Olympic champion Oh Jin-hyek had been going for South Korea’s ninth straight Asian Games gold in the event but were knocked out in the semifinals by China in a gripping shoot-off. Local media lamented the loss, calling it the end of South Korea’s dominance in the sport.
While South Korea’s dominion over the archery world may be coming to an end, there are no shadows being cast on Sun’s reign over long distance swimming.
The Chinese sensation successfully defended his 1,500 meters freestyle title, coming home well ahead of his rivals.
Sun’s third gold of the Games was one less than Japan’s Kosuke Higano, who shocked Sun in the 200 freestyle on opening night last Saturday.
Sun swims with the grace of a dolphin and the killer instincts of a shark, but he showed he also has a heart of gold by presenting local hero Park Tae-hwan with a cake ahead of his 25th birthday.
Ye, who like Sun won two golds in Guangzhou four years ago before taking two Olympic titles in London, finished the Asian Games with three gold medals after her victory in the 200 individual medley.
“Four years ago I was a rookie swimmer and it was my first international meet,” she said. “It remains a good memory for me. I also think that these Asian Games will be a turning point in my swimming career.”
Both Chinese swimmers will go into the Rio Olympics with high hopes of gold, as will Kazakh breaststroke machine Dmitry Balandin, who added the 50 title to the 100 and 200 crowns he won earlier.
The Moonlight Festival Garden Weightlifting Venue has witnessed world records fall throughout the seven-day contest, and China’s Zhou Lulu made sure the curtain did not come down without one more new mark on the final day.
The London Olympic champion added 2 kilograms to the clean and jerk world record, hoisting 192kg to win gold, and said she wanted to go out at the pinnacle of her sport in two years’ time.
“Participating in the Olympic Games is the dream of every athlete and I’ll also take part in the next Rio 2016 Olympic Games. I will challenge there again to break my world record.”
With only 439 gold medals on offer for the 9,500 athletes competing at the Asian Games, it is the thrill of the competition that makes the journey to South Korea worthwhile for the vast majority.
The same cannot be said for the Qatari women’s basketball team, however, who quit the competition after being denied permission to wear their hijabs. The players chose to forgo their Asian Games dreams rather than abide by the International Basketball Federation’s rules banning headgear.
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