Games-Teen titan Zhang counts out the golds after magnificent seven in Asiad pool

Teenage juggernaut Zhang Zhanshuo became the ‌first ​swimmer to win seven gold medals at an Asian Games on the final night in the Tokyo pool on Friday where China cemented its superpower status.

The 19-year-old Zhang counted out the golds with his fingers to mark the moment after cruising to the ‌400 metres freestyle title in a Games record three minutes, 41.28 seconds, with Japan's Kazushi Imafuku a distant runner-up. Having already won the 200, 400 and 1,500m freestyle crowns and three relay titles to boot, Zhang eclipsed the six-gold hauls of China's butterfly queen Zhang Yufei (Hangzhou 2022) and Japan's Rikako Ikee (Jakarta 2018).

Only North Korean shooter So Gin-man, who won seven golds and a ‌silver in New Delhi in 1982, has a better total at a single Games. While calling it a good way to finish off the meet, Zhang said he was ‌eyeing bigger prizes.

"The Asian Games is not the goal. I'm still aiming for the Olympics and competing with the best," he said. In Zhang, China may have found a successor to Sun Yang and his awkward legacy as both the nation's most decorated swimmer and an athlete banned twice for doping violations.

The teenager's haul helped China sign off from the swimming with 30 golds out of 41 medal events in the pool, with ⁠chief rival Japan ​a distant second with seven titles. The meet ⁠has been ground zero for an explosion of junior talent, with China's 13-year-old schoolgirl Yu Zidi winning three golds and Japan's 17-year-old Shin Ohashi claiming the men's 200m breaststroke title in a world record.

The previous world ⁠record holder Qin Haiyang got one back for the grown-ups on Friday, though, the 27-year-old retaining his 50m breaststroke crown in a showdown with bronze-winning Ohashi. Zhang Yufei won the 50m butterfly, her fourth ​gold of the meet, shedding a tear on a nostalgic podium with old rival Ikee, who took bronze.

MIRACLE FOR YULO It has often been lean pickings for China's ⁠rivals at the Games but the Philippines celebrated a second gymnastics gold for Olympic champion Carlos Yulo as he landed the vault title ahead of Iran's Mahdi Olfati and Hong Kong's bronze-winner Ng Ka-ki.

Yulo's second gold, having ⁠won ​the floor exercise on Thursday, came after struggling to qualify for the final. "Today was really a miracle for me," he said.

"I was really scared in the training hall when I tried my vault and couldn't land it properly, but I trusted myself." A long sporting dynasty ended as China missed out on the men's team gold in table tennis ⁠for the first time since Beijing 1990, losing 3-2 to Japan.

Tomokazu Harimoto was the hero for the hosts, winning two matches in the tie, including a 3-0 thumping of ⁠twice Olympic champion and world number one Wang ⁠Chuqin. For Harimoto it was as much a psychological breakthrough as a sporting one.

"What we lacked was proof, and the confidence, that we could beat them once," he said. "We got the one thing we'd been missing – confidence."

China's women restored the nation's dented pride with a ‌sixth straight gold in the ‌team event, claiming a resounding 3-0 win over Japan. (Additional reporting by Michael Church in Tokyo ​and Amlan Chakraborty; Editing by Christian Radnedge)