Three Arab gold medals.. and China soars in the lead

The Arab tally in Japan rose to 24 medals, including 5 gold, 9 silver, and 10 bronze, shared by eight countries.

China leads the general ranking with 47 gold medals, followed by host Japan in second place with 15 gold medals, and South Korea in third with eight gold medals.

The Asian Games kicked off on Saturday evening and will last for two weeks, featuring a number of athletes exceeding the number of participants in the Olympic Games.

Qatar's two gold medals came in the men's team and individual skeet shooting events, reclaiming the gold he won in 2010 in Guangzhou, and before that in 2002 in Busan.

Al-Attiyah (55 years old) was hoping to raise his tally to seven medals in the Asian Games, in which he won team silver and individual bronze in 2022, and individual bronze in 2010, in addition to his achievement of winning the individual skeet bronze at the London 2012 Olympics, but he settled for sixth after finishing fifth in the individual final.

Al-Attiyah told beIN Sports: "Coming out with two gold medals is an achievement that counts for us, and more is coming."

The individual gold did not leave the Qatari record with the victory of Al-Athba, who set an Asian record with 34 hits, ahead of China's Liu Jianlin (33) and Lee Meng-yuan from Chinese Taipei (29), while India's Anantjeet Singh Naruka finished fourth.

The Kuwaiti team won the silver, outperforming the third-placed Indian team.

Promising Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi completes the golden hat-trick

Promising Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi completed her golden hat-trick at the Asian Games by achieving a landslide victory in the 400m individual medley race.

The 13-year-old, who is still a school student, finished the race with an Asian Games record time of 4:28.56 minutes, achieving a perfect score in her three individual races in Tokyo, after winning the 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley gold medals, also with Games record times.

She broke the previous Games record in the 400m medley, set by her compatriot Ye Shiwen in 2014, by a margin of nearly 4.5 seconds.

Yu seems on her way to becoming a prominent medal contender at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, as she has been the talk of the swimming world since she became the youngest swimmer to win a medal in the history of the World Championships last year, after winning bronze in the relay race at just twelve years old.

She said after the race, "I came out with a lot of gains from these Asian Games, but there were also some things I feel sorry about."

A second Kuwaiti gold

Kuwait added a second gold to its tally through the men's team kata competitions in karate, thanks to the trio of Mohammad Hussain, Sayed Salman Al-Musawi, and Sayed Mohammad Al-Musawi, noting that the latter two had won bronze in the individual kata two days ago.

The trio won the final against Macau 5-0 with scores of 8.9-8.4, 8.5-8.2, 8.0-7.3, 8.5-7.9, and 8.5-8.2.

Abdullah Shaaban had won gold on Sunday in the under-60kg kumite category in karate as well, by winning an all-Arab final against Qatari Abdulrahman Abdulhamid 8-0.

Salman Al-Musawi said, "We have determination and resolve. This gold medal is a lesson not to give up. In Hangzhou, our goal was gold, and since then we have spent our time together in the gym. Whoever works hard, succeeds."

Saudi Arabia's Sanad Hassan Sufyani won the silver in the 84kg kumite, after losing the final to Iran's Mohammad Nemati 3-6, raising his country's tally to two silvers and two bronzes in these Games. His compatriot Naif Al-Faleh also won another silver in the "Gran Turismo 7" final in the e-sports competitions.

"I lift my country on these two small shoulders"

North Korean weightlifter Ri Song Gum gave her country its first gold medal in the Games, in a remarkable way, after setting three world records in the women's 49kg weight class.

Kang Hyon Gyong gave North Korea a golden double in women's weightlifting by winning the 53kg weight class with similar dominance.

Ri, who is no taller than 140 cm, joined an elite group of four weightlifters who have won three gold medals in the Asian Games.

Ri told reporters, "The reason I won this gold is my feelings for my country, as people had high expectations of me," adding, "I wanted to lift my country on these two small shoulders."

Athletics competitions began with the men's and women's half-marathon race walk.

China's Shi Xingjie won the men's race, while his compatriot Yang Liujing was crowned winner of the women's race.

In badminton, world number one An Se-young won her match, but South Korea lost to Japan 1-3 in the women's team semi-finals.

In gymnastics, China won the men's team competition ahead of Japan.