On the penultimate day of the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games, China tops the medal tally with 296 medals, leaving South Korea trailing with 197 and Japan with 137.
China rounded up their last day at swimming with 10 gold, seven silver and three bronze. China’s Lin Furong’s sixth gold medal on the final day of swimming makes him the most decorated athlete of the competition.
Lin finished the men’s 100m backstroke S10 just over a second ahead of Indonesia’s Tangkilisan Sualang, touching in a time of 1minute 08.74s to break the Asian record and win gold.
Vietnam’s Thang Tung Vo is also among the high achievers in swimming with five gold medals. Thang (VIE) concluded his Incheon outing with his fifth gold medal, achieved in the men’s 50m butterfly S5. Vietnam takes home seven gold, four silver and four bronze from swimming.
Host South Korea made off with the last two gold medals in shooting. Korea’s Park Jin-Ho scored 457.5 to top the podium while teammate Jeon Jin-Hwa’s managed a third spot with 441.7 in the men’s R7 50m rifle 3 positions SH1. Abdullah Sultan Hamad M Aleryani (UAE) took silver with 456.6.
It was a similar result in the mixed R9 50m rifle prone, with Korea in first and third positions. JEON Young-Jun (KOR) hit the target with 615.7 points for an Asian record, and Kim Geun-Soo registered 612.3 for the bronze. Yuan Hongxiang’s (CHN) 613.1 gave him silver.
South Korea also triumphed in badminton with two all-South Korea finals. In the men’s singles WH1, Choi Jung-Man needed 68 minutes to overcome Lee Sam-Seop, 21-18, 18-21, 21-18, in what was the longest match of the day.
Kim Jung-Jun (KOR) defeated Kim Kyung-Hoon (KOR), 21-12, 14-21, 21-13 for the gold in the men’s singles WH2.
Japan proved superior in wheelchair tennis as top seed Mitsuteru Moroishi (JPN) fought off compatriot Shota Kawano’s (JPN) challenge 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 for the gold in the quad singles. Korea’s Kim Kyu-Seung (KOR) secured bronze despite a strong challenge from Huang Tzu-Hsuan (TPE), and the match ended 2-6, 7 (7)-6 (3), 6-2.
The men’s singles was also a Japanese 1-2 finish when Shingo Kunieda (JPN) defeated Takashi Sanada (JPN) 6-3, 6-1, while Oh Sang-Ho (KOR) beat Sothi Khlongrua (THA) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 for third place.
Sakhorn Khanthasit gave Thailand a gold medal in the women’s singles, with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Huang Jinlian (CHN). The tussle for bronze was an all-Japan affair but top seed Yui Kamji (JPN) seemed to have an easy win over Kanako Domori (JPN), 6-0, 6-2.
Many team events also came to a conclusion on Thursday.
Football 7-aside was won by Iran after they defeated Japan 5-0, and South Korea took on Singapore, scoring 3-0 for the bronze.
China and Iran took turns to top the podium in sitting volleyball. China triumphed 3-0 over Iran in the women’s team, and Japan won 3-0 against South Korea to take bronze.
The Iranian men’s team avenged the women’s loss by defeating China 3-0, while Iraq overcame Kazakhstan 3-1 for the bronze.
It was again a battle between China and Iran in goalball. Iran scored 10-0 to wrest the gold from China while Japan beat Thailand 7-6 for the bronze in the men’s team.
The Chinese women had a smaller score margin against Iran, 3-1, but it was enough for gold. The fight for bronze was again between Japan and Thailand and once again Thailand conceded 6-1, giving Japan bronze.
The Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games is being held from 18 to 24 October 2014.
