China, Japan and S. Korea dominate Asiad medal table

Asian sporting powerhouses China, Japan and South Korea on Tuesday continued to dominate at the 18th Asian Games, which are set to end on Sept. 2.

China's Cao Yuan/Xie Siyi win men's 3m synchro springboard title at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Tuesday, August 28, 2018. [Photo: VCG]

With five matchdays to go, China now lead the medal table on 97 gold, 64 silver and 45 bronze medals. Japan sit in the second place on 43 gold, 38 silver and 61 bronze medals while South Korea are in the third place on 32 gold, 40 silver and 46 bronze medals.

Hosts Indonesia won long-coveted badminton men's singles and men's doubles golds on Tuesday to place at fourth with 24 golds.

Leaders China continued their supremacy at the Games, bagging 11 golds on one single day, powered by their ace athletes in diving, table tennis and athletics.

In diving, a traditionally stronghold for China, the 14-year-old Zhang Jiaqi/Zhang Minjie and defending champions Cao Yuan/Xie Siyi won titles in the women's 10m synchro platform and men's 3m synchro springboard respectively.

"We were nervous before the final, becasuse we knew that our opponents were very strong. But during the competition, we concentrated on ourselves, and did a better job than our usual training form," said Zhang Jiaqi.

For Zhang Minjie, it was a special gift for her 14-year-old birthday. "I am super happy that I have the Asian Games gold medal as my birthday gift. We worked hard to prepare for this competition. All the efforts paid off but still I should improve," Zhang said. 

The awe-inspiring Chinese athletes also launched a stunning gold rush on field and track, bringing home four of the seven athletics golds of the day.

In the opening event of day, defending champion Xie Wenjun refreshed his season best in men's 110m hurdles final to clinch the gold medal, despite a slow start. Xie, 28, clocked 13.34 seconds to finish the race.

"I'm two seconds faster this time (than that in Incheon Games). I'm very proud. Another gold medal at this age. It's not easy," he said.

"I will focus on strength training, trying to improve my finish speed. I have confidence I can keep my momentum into my 30s," he added.

Liu Shiying and her teammate Lyu Huihui, who set Asian record of 67.69 meters in May, wrapped up gold and silver from women's javelin throw final and the Iron Lady Wang Chunyu clinched the title of 800m final. Li Ling showed absolute dominance in women's pole vault, winning gold with her first and only jump to clear 4.60 meters, renewing the Games record and her season best.

Bahrain harvested two golds from women's 5,000m final and mixed 4x400m relay final, and Indians Manjit Singh and Jinson Johnson took gold and silver from men's 800m final.

In table tennis, another traditionally powerful sport for China, the Chinese men's team claimed their seventh consecutive title after beating South Korea 3-0 in the final while the women's team claimed their 10th title at the Asian Games after breezing past DPR Korea 3-0 in the final.

Elsewhere, China also won golds in artistic swimming and cycling.