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Young Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi won her second gold medal at the Asian Games yesterday, clocking the fastest time in the world this year in the 200m individual medley, while a Thai badminton player became the first athlete to be suspended at the Games due to doping.
Yu recorded a time of 2:06.10 minutes in the 200m individual medley, 0.40 seconds off the world record held by Canada's Summer McIntosh, confirming her strong rise two years before the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The 13-year-old Yu said, "I feel happier after winning this second gold medal compared to the first," having won the 200m butterfly gold on Sunday and broken two Asian records in two consecutive days.
The Tokyo Aquatics Centre pool witnessed a dramatic moment when Japan's Shin Ohashi and China's Dong Zhihao tied in the men's 100m breaststroke, with both receiving a gold medal.
Ohashi said, "I am very happy to get the gold, but it was shared, so I feel a bit frustrated. The feeling is split 50-50."
Hong Kong's Siobhán Haughey also defended her title in the women's 200m freestyle.
Young Thai badminton player Pitchamon Opatniputh became the first athlete to be suspended for doping at the Nagoya-Aichi Games.
The International Testing Agency announced that the 19-year-old player tested positive for the banned substance furosemide and was provisionally suspended.
The teenager, ranked 18th in the world and considered one of the most prominent rising talents in her country, was scheduled to face China on Tuesday in the team competition.
Draw between the two Koreas
The North Korea vs. South Korea match in the women's football group stage was highly anticipated, but turned into a tense game that ended in a 1-1 draw in Shizuoka.
Only about 2,000 spectators attended the 50,000-capacity stadium that hosted 2002 World Cup matches, including a group of North Korean fans who wore red shirts, with some painting their country's flag on their faces.
North Korea took the lead through a goal by Chae Un-yong in the first half.
Yun So-jung equalized in the second half, earning each team a point, while the players exchanged cold handshakes at the end of the match without speaking to each other.
The two neighboring countries remain technically at war because the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Boxing competitions began yesterday at the Nishio City Gymnasium in Aichi, witnessing surprising results in the men's light middleweight (70kg), as the silver and bronze medalists from the Hangzhou Games three years ago were eliminated in the Round of 32.
Taiwan's Kan Chia-wei, the Hangzhou runner-up, lost by a 4-1 split decision to Palestinian Mohammed Issa.
This came moments after Turkmenistan's Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov, the 2023 bronze medalist, lost by the same result to Bahrain's Ali Abdullah.
After tactically outperforming his opponent, Abdullah said, "He has no ring intelligence; all he does is pressure, pressure, pressure."
He added, "That's why it was a bit difficult today because he exerts tremendous pressure and doesn't leave you a chance to box."
Palestine made its first appearance in the Asian Games baseball competition.
Despite losing 0-12 to the Philippines, the team captain said that just participating "is considered a victory."
Oni Roberto Guillen Cardenas said, "With everything that is happening, what we are trying to do is give hope to people who don't have much of it."
He added, "Just being here on the same stage with countries like Japan... that is a victory in itself."
Hassan Ammar, who recorded his team's first successful hit, said: "It is probably the greatest honor of my life, to play for a cause of such importance and at such a high level."
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