INCHEON: Olympic champion Sun Yang powered to Asian Games gold in the men’s 400m freestyle on Tuesday as China roared into life after a slow start to the swimming competition.
China’s king of bling strode out in a pair of gold headphones and mercilessly avenged a shock loss to Kosuke Hagino in Sunday’s 200m final, crushing the Japanese and South Korea’s Park Tae-Hwan to win the blue riband event in three minutes, 43.23 seconds.
China, stung by Japan’s hot start in Incheon, trailed their fierce rivals 7-5 in the gold medal standings at the start of day four but tough-talking officials had promised to turn the tables.
They stormed to six titles on Tuesday, led by Sun and fellow Olympic champion Ye Shiwen, completing a shutout of the Japanese to give China an 11-7 advantage at the midway point of the pool competition.
“I knew we would come back today [Tuesday],” said China’s chief technical researcher Lu Yifan, who on Monday had bristled at talk of a power shift.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yuya Kamoto took gold in the Asian Games men’s individual all-round gymnastics on Tuesday as China again missed out on the medals.
Kamoto, the 2010 Youth Olympics all-round gold medallist, beat Masayoshi Yamamoto into silver for an all-Japan one-two at Incheon’s Namdong Gymnasium.
There was better news for China in the women’s event as Yao Jinnan took gold and Shang Chunsong silver with ease.
Tajik footballer fails drug test
A Tajikistan footballer has become the first drug failure at the Asian Games and will be kicked out of the event, a source told AFP on Tuesday.
The player was not identified but details were due to be announced later.
“It’s a confirmed case,” said the source.
The Asian Games has previously been hit by doping cases, notably in weightlifting and swimming, but the footballer is the first at the current edition in Incheon, South Korea.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2014.
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