China's Xie Zhenye crosses the finish line to win the men's 100-metres final at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. - AP
HANGZHOU (Reuters): Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye won the men's 100 metres in under 10 seconds at his home Asian Games on Saturday after a pair of North Korean weightlifters set world records.
Stepping up in the absence of injured compatriot Su Bingtian, Xie crossed in 9.97 seconds to edge Thai runnerup Puripol Boonson (10.02) and Malaysia's third-placed Muhd Azeem Fahmi (10.11) at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center stadium.
Weightlifting opened with a bang as Ri Song Gum and Kang Hyong Yong swept the gold medals with respective world records in the women's 49-kg and 55-kg divisions.
Ri jumped for joy after hoisting a combined 216kg, re-writing the record books only a few weeks after China's runnerup Jiang Huihua lifted a kilo less at the world championships in Saudi Arabia.
The 25-year-old cried on the podium and saluted the North Korean flag as the national anthem played.
"During the COVID period I did a lot of hard training and that’s why today I achieved this great result and broke the world record," said Ri, whose 124kg lift in the clean and jerk was also a world record.
Kang then set world records in both the snatch and clean and jerk for her total of 233kg in the 55-kg category, smashing the combined record of 227kg set by China's Liao Qiuyun in 2019.
There was more joy for North Korea in the women's soccer as a late three-goal burst secured a 4-1 win over South Korea in the quarter-finals, with midfielder Ri Hak scoring a double.
Without a FIFA ranking after spurning international football for years due to COVID-19, the North Koreans have come back strong at Hangzhou.
In the tennis, Chinese trailblazer Zhang rode a wave of crowd support to beat Japan's Yosuke Watanuki 6-4 7-6(7) for the men's singles gold, roaring back from 4-1 down in the first set after a nervous start at the Olympic Sports Centre.
The first Chinese man to break into the top 100 in world rankings, Zhang claimed the hosts' first gold medal in the men's event since Pan Bing won back-to-back titles in 1990-94.
"It's been a very, very tough week .... from the first match onwards," he said.
"But I'm super happy that from the beginning of the first match, step by step, I've played better and better tennis."
In track and field, 35-year-old Saudi Arabian Yousef Masrahi turned back the clock to win the 400m, 11 years after the Asian record-holder had his first gold in the 2014 event in Incheon.
EJ Obiena, who took pole vault silver at the world championships, cleared 5.90 metres to win gold for the Philippines.
"I'm excited to take this medal, put it on a shelf, but I would have liked to hit a record in front of an Asian crowd," said Obiena, who holds the Asian record of 6.00 metres.
Indian golfer Aditi Ashok shot a sensational 61 in a flawless third round to all but wrap up the women's gold at the West Lake International course.
Rolling in nine birdies and an eagle on the par-four ninth, Ashok will tee off in the final round with a seven-stroke lead over Thailand's Arpichaya Yubol.
Home favourite Yin Ruoning, who recently gave up the world number one ranking to American Lilia Vu, crashed out of gold contention with a 74.
India edged arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 for the men's team squash gold, with Abhay Singh saving match points to claim the decisive game. Singh said he cried when he called his father to tell him the news.
"My mum was taking a nap, so she probably couldn't answer the phone," he added.
"She's a heart patient, so she doesn't watch me play so much." (Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Michael Perry and Hugh Lawson)
