China Claims First Gold Medal In Esports At Asian Games 2023, Beats Malaysia By 2-0

Teenage swimming sensation Pan Zhanle made headlines on September 26, 2023 in HANGZHOU, China when he swam a freestyle leg at a world record pace to help China win the men’s 4×100 medley relay gold medal. At the Asian Games on Tuesday Pan Zhanle won the hosts won their first medal at esports’ official debut in the multi-sport competition.

Pan, a 19-year-old swimmer, clocked an astounding 46.65 seconds as China challenged the US record, just two nights after becoming the first Asian to breach the 47-second barrier in the 100-meter freestyle. Pan beat Romanian David Popovici, a 19-year-old supertalent who now holds the 100-meter world record, by 0.21 seconds.

China won in 3 minutes, 27.01 seconds, just shy of the U.S. world record of 3:26.78 from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 thanks to world champion Qin Haiyang, who swam the breaststroke leg in 57.63 seconds, quicker than the Asian mark.

“We thought we would have to wait until next year to come close to the world record, so tonight we put in a really good performance,” said Qin. He owns the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke world titles. “There must be a higher goal. Our goal has always been to win the gold medal at the Paris Olympics next year,” he added.

The event at Hangzhou and the Games in general have been dominated by China. Olympic bronze medalist Li Bingjie added another medal to her collection by winning the 400m freestyle for women.

Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong has been a pillar of opposition to China’s dominance, nevertheless.

A day after winning the 200-meter gold, the first swimming medalist from the former British colony surged to victory in the 100-meter freestyle championship with a time of 52.17 seconds, creating an Asian record.

“I haven’t swum a (personal) best time since Tokyo,” said 25-year-old Haughey, who took the 100 and 200 silvers at the Olympics. She added, “It just proves that I’m not at my peak yet.”

China Rules Esports At Asian Games 2023

After being a demonstration sport in Jakarta for five years, esports has now finally made its debut as a medal event in Hangzhou.

As esports strengthened its case for Olympics inclusion of esports, a team of five Chinese gamers defeated Malaysia to win the first gold medal in the “Arena of Valor” competition.

Since 2021, China’s government has restricted how much time kids can spend playing video games. But after China prevailed 2-0 in a best-of-three match for the well-known mobile game, tens of thousands of home supporters went wild at the Hangzhou Esports Centre.

The participants used headsets to interact during a 45-minute game while tapping quickly on their phones as loud music and live commentary played in the background. This may have seemed strange to sports purists.

Thailand has earlier claimed the Asian Games’ first esports medal by beating Vietnam for the bronze.

CHINA GOLDS

With victories in their common sports like shooting, table tennis, and gymnastics, China increased their lead at the top of the medals table.

Gymnast Zhang Boheng, a national favorite and two-time world champion, added the all-around individual championship to his men’s team victory on Sunday. Zhang finished with a total score of 89.299, over two points ahead of Takeru Kitazono of Japan, who finished in second place. Zhang was unbeaten in every revolution and landed in the horizontal bar.

In their first appearance at a multi-sport competition since Jakarta five years ago, the North Korean delegation made a big impression as well. After losing out on the gold medal on Monday, three North Korean shooters stood apart from their South Korean competitors in a group photo of medal winners.

Due to anti-doping failures, North Korea’s flag was supposed to be prohibited from flying at all major events outside of the Olympics, yet it has flown triumphantly during the Games.

In relation to the flag, the World Anti-Doping Agency declared that it has started a “compliance procedure” against the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The OCA made no comments.

Judoka is disqualified.

The South Korean delegation has also received attention for the behavior of its athletes.

On Sunday, women’s 48-kg Judoka Lee Hye-kyeong was disqualified for punching a Kazakh opponent in the face during their match, and on Monday, men’s tennis player Kwon Soon-woo threw a massive range after losing to a much lower-ranked Thai opponent and broke his racket.

According to a South Korean tennis federation official who spoke to Yonhap on Tuesday, Kwon, who also declined the post-match handshake, visited Thailand’s training facility to express his regret.

The dressage team event gave the Olympics a royal flair when Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari Mahidol rode in on a horse called “Es Fangar’s Samba King.” The 36-year-old daughter of King Vajiralongkorn was unable to add a medal to the crown jewels as Thailand finished fifth, behind gold-winning India.

“Luckily our father is supporting us,” said the princess, who played badminton at the 2006 Asian Games and competed in equestrian at the 2014 edition. “He knows that what drives my heart is horses and badminton.”