NAGOYA: China’s 13-year-old swimming prodigy Yu Zidi sealed a hat-trick of Asian Games titles on Wednesday, as North Korea’s Ri Song Gum shattered three world records on her way to a third gold in the continental showpiece.
Towards the end of the fourth full day of action in Aichi-Nagoya, China were easily top of the medals table with 47 golds.
Second were the hosts Japan on 15, with South Korea third with eight.
The schoolgirl Yu will be remembered as one of the faces of the Games after her eye-popping exploits in the pool.
If she maintains her current trajectory, the teenager will be a major medal threat at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Yu, who turns 14 next month, powered to a dominant victory in the women’s 400m individual medley in a Games-record 4min 28.56sec.
Yu’s wire-to-wire win came comfortably 3.95 seconds ahead of compatriot Ke Wenxi.
It gave her a clean sweep from her three individual events, following victories in the 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley, also in Games-record times.
It was a reflection of China’s dominance in the pool this week, winning 21 of the 28 golds so far.
But for all her success, Yu says there is still room for improvement.
‘I gained a lot from these Asian Games, but there were also some regrets,’ she said after the race.
The teenager stood in wide-eyed amazement when a reporter suggested she had made it look easy.
‘Definitely not,’ she replied.
Elsewhere in the pool, Peng Xuwei claimed the women’s 100m backstroke title, even though she was ‘not particularly satisfied’ with how she swam, while Zhang Zhanshuo powered to victory in the men’s 200m freestyle to bag hisfourth gold of the ongoing Games.
PARIS REVENGE The day also brought a measure of revenge for China over Japan, avenging their defeat at the Paris Olympics two years ago after Zhang Boheng produced a nerveless display on the high bar to seal the men’s team gymnastics gold.
It marked the second time Zhang had turned the tables on Japan at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, having already edged out Shinnosuke Oka for the all-around title just two years after finishing runner-up to him in Paris.
‘Looking back now, I would not call Paris a regret,’ Zhang said.
‘It was one stage in my gymnastics career. I learned a great deal there and took a great deal from it, and I used it to work on my shortcomings, right up to taking this gold medaltoday.
TEARS OF JOY North Korean weightlifter Ri gave her country their first gold of the Games, and in style, setting three world records in the women’s 49kg class.
Kang Hyon Gyong made it a golden double for North Korea’s women weightlifters by winning the 53kg class in equally dominant fashion.
Ri, who stands a mere 140cm (4ft 7ins) tall, joined an elite club of four weightlifters who have won three Asian Games golds.
The 28-year-old was emotional as her country’s anthem was played at the medal ceremony.
Ri’s exceptional achievement was cheered to the rafters in a lively atmosphere, made all the more raucous by a large number of Japanese and North Korean fans waving flags.
Ri hauled 94kg above her head in the opening snatch discipline, one kilogram more than the previous world standard of 93kg.
She then smashed the clean and jerk world mark of 115kg twice byhoisting 116kg and then 121kg. Her total of 215kg also obliterated the world mark by seven kilograms.
‘The reason I got this gold is for the feelings of my home country; the people had huge expectations for me,’ Ri told reporters. ‘I wanted to lift my country up on these two small shoulders.
‘POWERING TO GOLD’ Athletics began on Wednesday with the men’s and women’s halfmarathon race walks.
China’s Shi Shengji won the men’s and compatriot Yang Liujing triumphed in the women’s.
‘My name means ‘power’, so here I walked with power,’ said Yang.
Asked about her country winning both the men’s and women’s disciplines, she replied: ‘I think it’s normal for us to sweep the (gold) medals.
In badminton, world number one An Se-young won her match, but South Korea lost 3-1 to Japan in the women’s team event semi-finals.
China won the men’s team event in gymnastics, ahead of Japan.
On the road, Kazakhstan’s Alexey Lutsenko bowed out of the Asian Games in style, claiming his second gold in Nagoya with victory in the men’s road race.
Lutsenko, who will retire from cycling at the end of the year, had already won gold in the men’s individual time trial and signs off with an impressive haul of seven Asian Games medals.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah completed a unique double when he captured shooting gold in the same year that he won the Dakar Rally.
The 55-year-old was part of the Qatar men’s skeet team that took gold ahead of Kuwait and India in Nagoya.
It was his third Asian Games gold following triumphs in 2002 and 2010, and his sixth medal at the Games overall.-Agencies