Thirteen-year-old swimmer Yu Zidi of China made a record-breaking Asian Games debut in Tokyo on Sunday, spearheading a prolific opening medal day for China as its athletes collected 11 gold medals across the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. China now tops both the gold medal table and overall medal tally.
Yu clocked 2:05.08 to win the women's 200-meter butterfly, breaking the Asian Games record of 2:05.57 set by compatriot Zhang Yufei at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago. Fellow Chinese swimmer Chang Mohan, 15, took silver, 3.36 seconds behind Yu.
"It was only so-so. I hope I can swim even faster. I improved my time by 0.9 seconds here, and I believe I will perform better next time," Yu told reporters with a smile after the race.
The victory was Yu's first major individual title and came with her Asian Games debut. She will turn 14 next month.
The swimming competition is being staged at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, about 270 kilometers east of Nagoya, with 41 gold medals to be contested through September 25.
Pan Zhanle, the world-record holder in the men's 100 meters freestyle, touched in 47.61 seconds to edge out South Korea's Kim Young-beom by just 0.04 seconds and defend the Asian Games title he won in Hangzhou in 2023.
Pan's world-record of 46.40 seconds was set at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
"This was my best result in the past two years. It was still below what I expected, but I will take it step by step," Pan said after the race. "I believe I can swim faster in the future."
Along with Yu and Pan's achievements, China dominated the opening night in the pool, winning six of the seven available swimming titles.
The results added to a strong start for the Chinese delegation, which had already collected gold medals in modern pentathlon, triathlon, shooting and other events.
China's first gold of the Games came in the women's modern pentathlon team event. Zhang Mingyu, Wu Xiyao and Meng Xin combined to finish ahead of South Korea, with the Chinese team successfully defending the title.
