Sun Yang leads in 200m freestyle heat at Asiad

Sun Yang of China ranked No. 1 in the 200m freestyle heat, leading archrival Park Tae-hwan of South Korea in the first swimming event of the Asian Games Sunday morning at the Park Tae-hwan Aquatic Center.

The clash between Sun and Park is much anticipated by both media and sports enthusiasts in both China and South Korea. Men's 200m freestyle was arranged as the first event of the heats on Sunday morning.

Sun appeared in the fourth heat and had been leading all the way through the competition. He swam 1:48:90 to rank the first in the preliminary.

Park was in the third heat and was greeted by roaring applause from the home crowd. Khurshidjon Tursunov from Uzbekistan had been leading in the group in the first 100 meters, though he was overpassed by Park, Li Yunqi of China and Yeo Kai Quan of Singapore in the group and failed to reach the final.

A relaxing and smiling Park said in the mixed zone that the heat went smoothly for him and he was looking forward to the final in the evening.

"My goal at these Asian Games is to break my own record and make a personal breakthrough," Park said.

"I'm here to participate in the competition, not to meet Sun Yang," Park said, referring to a so-called Sun-Park clash, which he said has been sensationalized by the two countries' media.

Japanese swimmers, however, stole the show as Kosuke Hagino and Takeshi Matsuda ranked 2nd and 3rd in the 200m freestyle behind Sun but ahead of Park.

"Competing with the world's best swimmers will stimulate me to perform better. I swan easily in the preliminary, but will deliver myself to the full in the finals," said Hagino.

While Chinese and Korean media are speculating whether Sun or Park will rule the pool in the evening's final, Japanese reporters are talking about whether Hagino will beat any one of them.

Hagino, regarded as Japan's next swimming super star after Kosuke Kitajima, swam 1:48:99, just 0.09 seconds behind Sun's 1:48:90. He also participated in men's 100m backstroke about 20 minutes later and ranked 3rd to enter the final this evening.

His teammate, Asian Games champion, Ryosuke Irie led in the men's 100m backstroke preliminary with 53.87 seconds followed by China's Xu Jiayu.

The Japanese swimmers are also leading in men's 200m butterfly. Daiya Seto, holding the world's best ranking this year, ranked first to enter the final. Teammate Senta Hirai followed, leading China's Hao Yun and Wang Pudong.

Chinese women swimmers showed their overall strength in 400m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay. Bi Yirong and Zhang Yuhan secured central lane in the final with their performance in the preliminary in 400m freestyle. Chinese team, consisting of Qiu Yuhan, Chen Xinyi, Sun Meichen and Zhou Yilin, ranked first in the preliminary, leading their closest rivals from Japan 3.64 seconds.

Japan, on the other hand, overwhelmed their Chinese rivals in women's 100m breaststroke. Kanako Watanabe, who won gold in 200m breaststroke in Pan Pacific Swimming Championship last month, said she tried not to be distracted by the ranking in the preliminary.

"I will swim harder in the final and hope my first 50 meters can go within 31 seconds," she said. The time for her first 50m in the heat was 32.19 seconds.

All six events will have their finals in the evening. Competitions start at 7 pm local time at the Park Tae-hwan Aquatic Center.