South Korean swimming superstar Park Tae-Hwan powered back to his best at the Asian Games on Sunday, but China dominated once again with another 18 gold medals. The Games saw their first world records with Chinese weightlifter Li Ping setting new marks in the women's -53kg class.
Li snatched 103kg to beat the previous best of 102kg set by Ri Song-Hui of North Korea at the 2002 Busan Asiad.
The 22-year-old's best clean and jerk of 127kg was enough to see her rack up a combined total of 230kg to break the previous aggregate best of 226kg set by compatriot Qiu Hongxia in October 2006. The records complete a hat-trick for Li, who already held the world record for the clean and jerk of 129kg set in April 2007.
Kazakh teenager Chinshanio Zulfiya, the 2009 world champion, took silver with Olympic champion Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon of Thailand claiming bronze.
They now top the medal table with 37 gold, ahead of South Korea (13) and Japan (8). In a first, Macau won its first gold medal ever, in wushu.
The hosts dominated dance sport, collected five of the six titles in the pool and also tasted success in wushu, track cycling, canoe/kayak and gymnastics.
But it wasn't all one-way traffic with Park winning his nation's first gold in the pool, breaking his own Asian record in the 200 metres freestyle.
The Olympic 400m freestyle gold medallist never looked troubled, touching in 1:44.80 to shave 0.05sec off his own record set in 2008. China's Sun Yang, ranked number one in the world in the men's 1,500m freestyle, finished second in 1:46.25, with Japan's Takeshi Matsuda taking the bronze in 1:47.73.
But China again set the standard, discovering a new star in 14-year-old Ye Shiwen who announced her arrival by streaking clear to win the women's 400m individual medley.
The teenager touched in 4:33.79, more than four seconds clear of better-known compatriot Li Xuanxu with Taiwan's Cheng Wan-jung taking bronze.
Japan had a lean day, but did win the men's triathlon when Yuichi Hosoda completed the 1.5km swim, 40km bike race and 10km run in 1hr 52min 13sec.
It was the Koreans who came good on the shooting ranges, winning four-out-of-four gold, including two by eight-months pregnant Gim Yun-Mi.
They also captured the imagination on the cycling track with Jang Sun-Jae winning his fourth Asian Games career title.
Goals galore as women's football
kicks off
China, South Korea and Japan blitzed 20 goals between them as they overran teams out of their depth on the opening day of the Asian Games women's football tournament on Sunday.
The host nation, who won bronze in Doha four years ago, bagged the most, running riot against a hopelessly outclassed Jordan in a 10-1 thrashing.
Ma Jun, Qu Shanshan, Xu Yuan and Li Lin all scored two each, with Liu Huana and Pang Fengyue also getting on the scoresheet as China restored some pride after failing to qualify for the Women's World Cup next summer.
The Koreans also made their intentions clear with a 6-1 win over Vietnam, bouncing back after being stunned by an early goal against them in the first minute.
Doha silver medallists Japan also got off to an impressive start in a 4-0 thumping of Thailand, with strikes from Ayako Kitamoto, Shinobu Ohno and Mizuho Sakaguchi. A late own goal from Thidarat Wiwasukhu sealed the win.
badminton team finals
China's men and women surged into the finals of the badminton team events as Lin "Super Dan" battled past his old foe Taufik Hidayat in the match of the day.
The Chinese men face South Korea in Monday's team final after China smashed Indonesia 3-0, while the Chinese women take on Thailand after beating South Korea 3-0, on the same day.
Lin, who lost to Hidayat in the singles final four years ago, won 21-13, 23-21 to give China the perfect start.
South Korea beat Thailand 3-1 in the other semi.
China's powerful women were just as emphatic as their male counterparts, strolling to a 3-0 victory over South Korea to book their place in the team final.
Despite winning, Wang Shixian, who beat Pae Sung-Hee 21-18, 18-21, 21-14, said she needed to do better.
World number one Wang Xin won their other singles match, beating Bae Yeon-Ju 21-17, 21-12, but complained that it took her too long to get into her groove.
India's riders ordered out India's sports ministry has denied permission to the equestrian squad to take part in the Asian Games after China refused to allow their horses in due to strict quarantine laws.
India had proposed to send eight horses to the Games, but the government backed out after Chinese authorities cleared just three for the trip to Guangzhou.
The sports ministry told the Equestrian Federation of India that permission to take part in the Games had been withdrawn even as the horses were about to be shipped in from Bangalore.
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