JAKARTA, Tuesday: China’s Liu Xiang set a new world record in the women’s 50 metres backstroke to win Asian Games gold on Tuesday. The 21-year-old clocked a time of 26.98 seconds — the first time a female swimmer has broken 27 seconds for the event — in Jakarta.
Liu, nicknamed “Swimming Goddess”, finished well ahead of team-mate Fu Yuanhui’s 27.68 and Japan’s Natsumi Sakai in 27.91 on the third evening of competition. She claims the record held for nine years by fellow Chinese Jing Zhao, who clocked 27.06 at the 2009 world championships in Rome.
RECORD-BREAKING TEEN CLAIMS SHOOTING GOLD
Sixteen-year-old Indian shooter Saurabh Chaudhary set a new Asian Games record as he bagged the first major title of his career in the 10 metre air pistol competition on Tuesday. Chaudhary’s 240.7 put him ahead of Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda, who scored 239.7, and fellow Indian Abhishek Verma’s 219.3.
He captured India’s first shooting gold medal of the Games in Indonesia after Deepak Kumar and Lakshay Lakshay had to settle for silver in the 10m air rifle and men’s trap. In the men’s 50m rifle three positions, China’s Hui Zicheng saw off his Indian challenger Sanjeev Rajput to take gold with a score of 453.3.
The 2016 World Cup Final silver medallist claimed China’s fifth gold medal of the shooting competition, putting them well ahead of second-placed Taiwan on two. In the inaugural mixed trap team event, Alain Moussa and Ray Bassil secured Lebanon’s first gold medal of these Asian Games. They saw off challenges from the Taiwanese and Chinese pairs, who placed second and third respectively.
WEIGHTLIFTER DIAZ WINS FIRST ASIAN GAMES GOLD FOR PHILIPPINES
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the Philippines’ first gold medal of the 2018 Asian Games and “proud Indonesian” Eko Yuli Irawan triumphed for the hosts on a pulsating day of action Tuesday.
Diaz, the silver medallist from the Rio Olympics, pipped Turkmenistan’s Kristina Shermetova by just one kilogramme to win the women’s 53kg class. Earlier Irawan, also a silver medallist in Rio, dominated the men’s 62kg competition to take Indonesia’s first weightlifting gold of the Games in front of President Joko Widodo. Veteran Irawan, 29, has won multiple major medals in a senior weightlifting career stretching back to his bronze at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, but had never before set foot on the top step of the podium.
Diaz raised 92kg in the snatch and 115kg in the clean and jerk for a 207kg total that proved just enough to edge out Shermetova (93kg snatch, 113kg clean and jerk). Thailand’s Khambao Surodchana took the bronze on 201kg.
Be the first to comment