HANGZHOU: Swimming is one of the highlights of the Games and will see seven finals later on Sunday (24th of September, 2023) at the Olympic Centre Aquatic Sports Arena here, where China are also expected to dominate.
Triple breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang upstaged Olympic gold medalist Wang Shun in the morning heats to qualify fastest for the men’s 200m individual medley final.
Qin burst onto the scene at the July world championships in Fukuoka, becoming the first man in history to sweep all three breaststroke titles and also setting a new world record in the 200m.
Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yufei, also from the host nation, fired off a warning shot of her own with a dominant 200m butterfly swim, touching more than three seconds clear of teammate Yu Liyan and Japan’s Airi Mitsui.
South Korean sensation Hwang Sun-woo got the better of breakout Chinese freestyler Pan Zhanle in their 100m heat, though China’s Wang Haoyu qualified fastest in 48.13.
Elsewhere, India’s women cricketers ripped through Bangladesh, dismissing them for just 51 in the first semi-final.
They knocked off their target in just 8.2 overs and will face Sri Lanka in Monday’s final of the Twenty20 competition.
Other sports beginning on Sunday included boxing, rugby sevens, hockey and eSports – where superstars such as South Korea’s “Faker” are expected to draw huge crowds for its debut as a full Asian Games medal event.
President Xi Jinping opened the Games on Saturday night after a delay of a year because of China’s now-abandoned zero-Covid policy.
With more than 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories, the Asian Games has more participants than the Olympics.
They will battle for medals in 40 sports across 54 venues.
Most events take place in Hangzhou, a city of 12 million people near Shanghai, but some sports are being staged in cities as far afield as Wenzhou, 300 kilometres (180 miles) to the south.
Newspakistan.tv/AFP/APP
