China dominates day three of swimming competition at Incheon 2014

China’s swimmers put on an impressive performance on day three (Tuesday 21 October) of the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games, winning 11 of 18 possible gold medals, and 20 medals overall.

S6 swimmers and rivals Qing Xu and Tao Zheng won one gold and one silver medal each. Xu secured the gold medal in the men’s 100m freestyle S6 in a new Games record time of 01:08.98 with Zheng having to settle for silver.

However, Zheng came back to beat Xu by just 0.44 in the men’s 50m butterfly just 35 minutes later.

Compatriot Furong Lin added a fourth gold medal to his tally by winning the men’s 200m individual medley SM10, beating Malaysia’s Fraidden Dawan and Iran’s Shahin Izadyar.

Shiyun Pan contributed two gold medals to China’s success on Tuesday. The double Paralympic champion from London finished first in the men’s 100m freestyle S7 and in the men’s 50m butterfly S7.

Paralympic medallist Shengnan Jiang also won two gold medals in the course of the evening. She first swam to gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB8 before she finished first in the 100m freestyle S8 in a new Asian and Games record time of 01:12.43.

Meng Zhang and Yongija Cui claimed their second gold medal each in the women’s 400m freestyle S10 and the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8 respectively. Zhang also set a new Asian record of 04:55.90.

Yinan Wang added a second Asian Para Games gold medal to his impressive collection of Paralympic Games and World Championships medals. The 25-year-old beat compatriot Maodang Song in the men’s 100m freestyle S8 to take gold in a new Games record time of 57.77.

China’s gold medal haul was completed with the victory in the mixed 4x50m freestyle 20 points relay.

Hosts South Korea secured two gold medals in the pool on Tuesday. Hyun Kwon beat Japan’s Takuro Yamada, who has won three gold medals already, to take the gold in a new Games record of 04:31.94.

In the men’s 100m freestyle S4 it was a double podium for South Korea with Kyunghyun Kim finishing first ahead of Gi-Seong Jo.

Japanese swimmers could not quite continue with their success from the previous two days with Yuka Kawamura winning the only gold medal in the women’s 100m freestyle S5.

Uzbekistan’s rising star Kirill Pankov won an impressive fourth gold medal, yet again setting a new Asian and Games record in a time of 02:18.80.

Thank Tung Vo from Vietnam added a third gold medal to his collection winning the men’s 100m freestyle S5 in a new Games record of 01:21.94.

Kazakhstan’s swimmers put on impressive performances, winning two gold medals in the pool. Dmitriy Li claimed victory by just 0.04 in the men’s 400m freestyle S10 breaking the Asian and Games record in a time of 04:40.34. It was not until the last leg that Li overtook Iran’s Shahin Izadyar to take the gold medal.

Li’s compatriot Anuar Akhmetov topped the podium in the men’s 200m individual medley SM12, also beating the Asian and Games record in a time of 02:29.07.

The 2014 Asian Para Games opened on Saturday 18 October and will run through to Friday 24 October. Athletes from 41 countries will compete in 23 sports.