China swimmer, 13, seals Games hat-trick as North Korea win first gold / Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS - AFP
China swimmer, 13, seals Games hat-trick as North Korea win first gold
China's 13-year-old swimming prodigy Yu Zidi completed a hat-trick of Asian Games titles on Wednesday, as North Korea won their first gold thanks to a pocket powerhouse weightlifter.
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.
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.
- Tears of joy -
North Korean weightlifter Ri Song Gum gave her country their first gold of the Games, and in style, setting three world records in the women's 49kg class.
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 Ri 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 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 by hoisting 116kg and then 121kg. Her total of 215kg also obliterated the world mark by 7kg.
"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 with the men's and women's half-marathon 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.
An, the reigning world and Olympic champion, was not best pleased by her father in the crowd.
"Parents usually cannot bear to watch their own children compete, but my dad seems to watch perfectly happily, which is a bit much," she said.
"I am out there running myself into the ground and he is just cheering away in comfort."
China won the men's team event in gymnastics, ahead of Japan.
"Second place. The most honest feeling is that it is very frustrating," said Japan's Daiki Hashimoto.
L.Ross--EWJ
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