Day 9 Roundup: Chinese divers prevail, DPR Korean weightlifter sets world record

Li Yajie competes in the women's 1m springboard at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

Chinese divers continued their dominance by adding two more golds in the 1m springboard events, while Kim Il Gyong of DPR Korea broke another world record to win the women's 59kg weightlifting title.

HANGZHOU, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese divers added two more golds in the 1m springboard events to sweep the six diving titles so far, while Kim Il Gyong of DPR Korea broke the world record to crown in the women's 59kg weightlifting at the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Monday.

Li Yajie of China rallied back to win the women's 1m springboard gold with 317.55 points, while her compatriot Lin Shan took the silver with 303.80 points.

"The gold medal will belong to the Chinese team," said Lin, winner of the event at the Fukuoka worlds in July where Li was the runner-up. "I did not dive in my own style, and my movement did not completely open up. I also need to improve my mentality."

China also took 1-2 finish in the men's 1m springboard, as world champion Wang Zongyuan scored 459.50 points for the gold, followed by his teammate Peng Jianfeng with 442.45 points.

In weightlifting, DPR Korea has already refreshed five world records in the women's 49kg and 55kg divisions on Saturday, before the 20-year-old Kim snatched 111kg to break the previous world record of 110kg set by Kuo Hsing-chun of Chinese Taipei in April 2021. Kim also lifted 135kg in the clean and jerk for a winning total of 246kg to triumph in the women's 59kg division.

Also on Monday, another weightlifter from DPR Korea Rim Un Sim, seized the gold in the women's 64kg, with 111kg in the snatch and 140kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 251kg.

"All weightlifters of the team train hard for Hangzhou Asiad," said a coach from team DPR Korea.

Chinese player Wang Chuqin celebrates after winning the table tennis men's singles title at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)

On the last competition day of table tennis, Wang Chuqin edged out Fan Zhendong 4-3 in the all-Chinese men's singles final. Chinese paddlers bagged six of the seven titles at the Asiad, while the other gold was achieved by the first-seeded pair of South Korea, Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin in the women's doubles, who won over Cha Su Yong and Pak Su Gyong of DPR Korea 4-1 in the final.

"I didn't expect to win. All I focused is to take every point at a time during the game. I handled some key points better," said Wang.

China took four out of six gold medals in Monday's canoe sprint competitions, including the men's kayak single 1,000m, men's kayak double 500m, women's kayak double 500m, and women's canoe double 500m.

The other two gold medals of the day went to Chinese Taipei and Kazakhstan in the men's canoe single 1,000m and the men's canoe double 500m respectively.

"I started with a heavy psychological burden at the beginning of the heat, but now I feel much relaxed. I hope I could achieve a better result in next year's Olympic Games," said Zhang Dong of China, who won the men's kayak single 1,000m.

China's 33-year-old star rider Alex Hua Tian secured the eventing individual gold and helped China clinch the team title, alongside Sun Huadong, Bao Yingfeng and Liang Ruiji.

Chinese rider Alex Hua Tian in action during the eventing individual competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 2, 2023. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

The gold completes Hua's individual set of Asiad medals, having won silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018.

"They mean a tremendous amount to me, these medals. An amazing amount. They represent such a journey. They represent a wonderful partnership with this beautiful horse and all my partnerships with all my horses. I'm extremely grateful," said Hua.

In the women's pole vault, defending champion Li Ling of China only used two attempts to book the gold with a Games record of 4.63m. Then, she tried to break the Asian record of 4.72m set by herself in May 2019, but failed to go over the bar in three attempts.

China's Xiong Shiqi registered a personal best 6.73m in the women's long jump. India's Ancy Sojan Edappilly ranked the second with 6.63m, and Yue Nga Yan of Hong Kong, China took the bronze at 6.50m.

In the track events, Japan's Koki Ueyama won the men's 200m in 20.60 seconds, while Veronica Shanti Pereira of Singapore finished the women's 200m first in 23.03 seconds. Yaqoub Alyouha of Kuwait claimed the victory in the men's 110m hurdles.

As of Monday on the medal table, China has taken 147 golds, 81 silvers and 42 bronzes. Japan grabbed 33 golds, closely followed by South Korea with 31.