Asian Games Roundup : China Wins Nine Events, Japan Two; Records Fall

China won 9 of the first 11 gold medals in the 10th Asian Games Sunday, and Asian records were broken in four swimming races, three shooting events, a cycling competition and a weightlifting contest.

Japan scored the only break in the Chinese monopoly, winning two of the day’s four golds in swimming.

The Chinese, defending champions in the Games medal standings and favored again, also set Asian records in three of the day’s four shooting events, and Games records in the 100-kilometer team trial cycling and 52-kilogram class weightlifting.

Despite a day of rain, only the tennis competition was postponed.

China capped its opening day blitz with the golds by weightlifter He Zhuoqiang and by its world-class men’s gymnastics team.

In weightlifting, He and Japan’s Kazushito Manabe tied with totals of 247.5 kilograms (546 pounds), but the gold went to He because of his lighter body weight. The total broke the old Games mark of 235 kilos (518 pounds) set by North Korea’s Han Gyong Si in 1978.

The Chinese gymnasts, led by Olympic gold medalist Li Ning, held off South Korea and beat the host team, 291.10 to 287.25.

The Chinese air rifle team won a gold medal with 1,739 points, breaking the Asian record of 1,718 set by China in Jakarta in 1983.

In swimming, Japan’s Hisashi Fuwa clipped 0.3 seconds off the Asian Games record in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke heats, but China’s Jin Pu beat him in the final in 1:06.02.

In the women’s 400-meter individual medley, China’s Yan Ming beat the old Asian Games mark by nearly two seconds in the heats in 5:00.91, and than won by a wide margin in the final in 4:52.43.

Lee Jae-hong, the Games’ chief press officer, said Sunday entries for the largest-ever Asian Games now totaled 4,806--3,421 athletes and 1,385 officials--from 27 nations in the 16-day Asiad, which formally opened on Saturday.