Hagino stuns Sun, Park in Asiad pool

INCHEON, South Korea: Japan’s Kosuke Hagino gatecrashed the much-hyped showdown between Olympic champions Sun Yang and Park Tae-hwan to win the 200 metres freestyle gold at the Asian Games yesterday, while four more weightlifting world records fell on the second day of competition in Incheon.
A day after North Korean Om Yun Chol lifted more than three times his bodyweight to break the world clean and jerk record, compatriot and fellow Olympic champion Kim Un Guk set new marks in the snatch and total lift to win gold in the 62kg category.
“This is something that all athletes wish for in weightlifting,” said the triumphant Kim. 
Kazakh and Taiwanese lifters also set world records in the women’s 53kg event as Asian weightlifters proved they will be hard to beat at the Summer Olympics in two years’ time.
South Korean sharpshooter Kim Cheong-yong will only be 19 when Rio rolls around and who knows how many titles the high school student will have accumulated by then.
Kim has idolised Olympic champion Jin Jong-oh since first picking up a pistol in middle school, but yesterday sentiment was shot to pieces as the 17-year-old won 10m air pistol gold.
Despite proving the sharpest shot in Incheon, Kim, who along with Jin and Lee Dae-myung also won gold in the team event on Sunday, said his mentor still had so much to teach him.
“There are so many things to learn from him. As shooting is not done so much by your physicality as it is by your mind, he gave me much precious advice,” added Kim, who won a silver at the recent Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
A springboard to success for many of the region’s emerging athletes, the Asian Games witnessed the emergence of Chinese stars Sun Yang and Yi Shiwen in Guangzhou four years ago and yesterday another young swimmer made a huge splash.
The 20-year-old Hagino has surfaced as the new rising star of a powerful Japanese men’s swim team that won six gold medals at the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia last month.
While South Korean and Chinese media focused squarely on the clash between Sun and Park, Hagino slipped under the radar and steamed past his two big rivals to win gold.
Hagino took down Olympic great Michael Phelps in Australia last month and all signs point to a career filled with world and Olympic titles.
“I cannot say I have gained a lot of confidence by winning today but I will continue this momentum for the remaining games,” said the 20-year-old Japanese student. Sun and Park both had their excuses. China’s 400 and 1,500 Olympic champion said he had a sore thumb, while South Korean Park, who won gold in Beijing, said he had struggled under the weight of expectation.
“They are both great swimmers. Just being able to compete with them meant a lot to me,” said the gracious Hagino.
Japan’s Daiya Seto proved the class act of the men’s 200m butterfly, Ryosuke Irie roared to gold in the men’s 100m backstroke, while China’s women also won three golds at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center.
Zhang Yuhan touched first in the 400m freestyle, Shi Jinglin won the 100m breaststroke and Yi Shiwen led her team to gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay. At the end of the second day of competition, China are tied with South Korea on 12 golds, with Japan in third place on seven. AFP

Asian Olympic chiefs open door to Oceania athletes
INCHEON, South Korea: Asian Olympic officials have agreed to let countries from Oceania compete at the region’s next indoor Games, a significant move that could open the door for sporting powerhouse Australia to integrate more into Asia.
Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, the influential president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), said there were no current plans to allow Oceania countries to compete at the main Asian Games but he did not rule it out in the future.
“I think we have an opportunity,” he told a news conference at the Asian Games yesterday. “But we don’t want to go directly for everything. “Let’s do it step-by-step. Indoor will be good. Then we will think more.”
Sheikh Ahmad, already one of the most powerful men in the Olympic movement, said the decision to let Oceania teams into Asia had been approved by the OCA general assembly.
The decision means the 17 Oceania nations, including Australia, New Zealand and other smaller Pacific nations, will be eligible to join the existing 45 Asian member countries at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Games, to be held in the Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat.
Sheikh Ahmad said the OCA might also consider allowing Oceania to compete at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, taking place the year before South Korea hosts the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Australia has been investing heavily in its winter sports programme, winning medals at each of the last six Olympics, including two silvers and a bronze at Sochi earlier this year.
But Australians rarely get to compete in big regional championships because there is no major winter games event for Oceania or Commonwealth nations.
“They have all those athletes in winter sports and they only have the Olympic Games, so maybe it will be the corridor for their preparations,” Sheikh Ahmad said.
Reuters