Injured Zhang Boheng Beats Two Japanese Olympic Champions to Retain His Asian Games Crown
China took seven golds in ninety minutes at the Nagoya Asian Games, led by gymnast Zhang Boheng — competing on an injury he insisted on hiding from no one afterwards — an Asian-record relay overtake of Japan, and a women's volleyball team that came back from the dead against Thailand to reach the final.
China's medal machine hit full stride in Nagoya on Monday: from Zhang Boheng's gymnastics gold onward, the delegation took seven titles in ninety minutes across gymnastics, swimming and karate, a burst that sent a Baidu tally of the streak up its hot board (the seven-gold tally).
The most valuable of them took the longest. Zhang Boheng, defending Asian Games all-around champion, posted 85.065 to beat not one but two Japanese Olympic champions — Tokyo all-around winner Hashimoto Daiki and Paris champion Oka Shinnosuke — in front of a Japanese crowd (the result). He did it hurt. After the final, the 26-year-old said he had picked up the injury before the squad even left China, had been through the scans, and had been asked by team officials whether he should sit out and observe; he insisted on competing (his account).
The pool delivered the evening's theatre. In the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay, anchor leg swimmer Zhang Zhanshuo chased down Japan's final swimmer over the closing strokes to take gold, splitting 1:42.92 — the fastest leg of the field — and breaking the Asian record in the process. Pan Zhanle, who retained his 100m freestyle crown earlier in the meet , swam the same relay. Asked afterwards about the overtake, Zhang Zhanshuo offered two words: "Normal. Normal" (the moment).
The women's volleyball team had to work hardest of all. Twenty-two days after losing the Asian Championship final to Thailand — a defeat that cost a direct route to next year's world Championship — China fell behind again on Monday night, dropped a fourth set it had led, and then swept the decider 15-6 to reach the Asian Games final 3-2 (the match as called). Veteran spiker Gong Xiangyu steadied the young side in the decider, and the players were still doing the high-five lap an hour later.
Elsewhere, the women's footballers beat the Philippines 5-1 to finish top of their group, wrapped in a sponsor-built hashtag asking why the team deserves to be seen (the result) — the commercial framing sitting, as it often does, on top of a squad that keeps qualifying quietly.
The day ends with the order of business clear: the volleyball final on Tuesday evening, against whoever survives Japan versus Korea, and a relay squad whose anchor leg swimmer has already told China not to get excited.