BUSAN, South Korea, Sept. 30. IT was billed as a two-country battle for swimming supremacy of the Asian continent, but the first day of competition at the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, at least, turned into a rout. Japan won four of the five events contested, as China was limited to just one victory.
Most dominant was Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, 20, who destroyed his opposition in the 100m breaststroke, clocking a Games record 1:00.45 — just off his own Asian record of 1:00.34 set at the Pan Pacs — and winning by almost three full seconds ahead of runner-up Zeng Qiliang of China.
Takahiro Mori, Yuko Nakanishi and the men's 4×200 metres freestyle team were also victorious at Busan's Sajik Pool.
"I swam a great race in Yokohama but there was something missing today. The (world) record is always on my mind but there is always next season," said Kitajima. "I still managed to get the job done and win gold. Now I have to focus on the 200 and hopefully do it again."
Mori, who won silver behind America's Michael Phelps at the Pan Pacs, got things rolling for the Rising Sun, winning the2 evening's first event, the 200 individual medley, in a new Asian record of 2:00.53. His teammate Jiro Miki finished second in 2:02.07.
"I knew it was important for the Japan team to get off to a winning start and that gave me extra incentive," said Mori. "I was aiming for the (Asian) record in Yokohama but my priority was to win gold today, so it's a bonus that the record came here."
Yuko Nakanishi led a one-two Japanese sweep of the women's 200m butterfly, clocking 2:08.99, well ahead of teammate Maki Mita at 2:11.57.
Japan finished the day with a resounDing win in the men's 4×200 freestyle relay in 7:20.59, the fourth Games record of the day. China finished almost five seconds later to take the silver.
There was one bright spot for China on Day One. In the women's 200m freestyle, Yang Yu won in another Games record and a personal best of 1:58.43 with compatriot Xu Yanwei taking silver in 1:59.42.
"My training has been geared towards the Asian Games, so I was confident I could win gold here. I will try to break my personal best in the 100 meters too," said Yang.
14th Asian Games
Busan, South Korea
September 29 – October 14, 2002
SWIMMING RESULTS
DAY ONE: September 30, 2002
Women's 200m Freestyle
Heats Rank Lane Name Country Record
F 1 4 YANG Yu People's Rep. of China
1:58.43 AGR
2 3 XU Yanwei People's Rep. of China
1:59.42
3 5 NAGAI Tomoko Japan
2:00.52
4 6 KIM Hyun Joo Korea
2:01.10
5 2 URABE Norie Japan
2:02.42
6 7 TACHAKITTIRANAN Pilin Thailand
2:02.98
7 1 HA Eun Ju Korea
2:05.53
8 8 CHOOMPOL Chorkaew Thailand
2:07.98
Women's 200m Butterfly
Heats Rank Lane Name Country Record
F 1 5 NAKANISHI Yuko Japan
2:08.99
2 4 MITA Maki Japan
2:11.57
3 3 LIU Yin People's Rep. of China
2:12.07
4 6 LI Jie People's Rep. of China
2:12.28
5 1 CHAN Wing Suet Hong Kong, China
2:17.42
6 2 PARK Kyung Wha Korea
2:18.22
7 8 SHIN Bo Mi Korea
2:19.53
8 7 BOUVRON Christel Singapore
2:22.52
Men's 200m Individual Medley
Heats Rank Lane Name Country Record
A 1 4 MORI Takahiro Japan
2:00.53 AGR
2 3 MIKI Jiro Japan
2:02.07
3 5 OUYANG Kun Peng People's Rep. of China
2:03.34
4 7 KIM Bang Hyun Korea
2:05.12
5 1 SIRISANONT Ratapong Thailand
2:05.18
6 2 MOLINA Miguel Philippines
2:06.45
7 6 XIE Xufeng People's Rep. of China
2:06.81
8 8 TAN Lee Yu Gary Singapore
2:07.22
B 1 4 WU Nien Pin Chinese Taipei
2:06.24
2 5 KIM Sung Tae Korea
2:08.35
3 6 KOH Mun Yew Gerald Singapore
2:09.25
4 2 PUKHNATIY Oleg Uzbekistan
2:10.10
5 7 PHUANGTHONG Dulyarit Thailand
2:11.42
6 8 PONCHA REHAN JEHANGER India
2:14.17
DQ AL-YOUSEF MOD Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
DQ KWOK Kin Ming Mark Hong Kong, China
Men's 100m Breaststroke
Heats Rank Lane Name Country Record
A 1 4 KITAJIMA Kosuke Japan
1:00.45 AGR
2 3 ZENG Qiliang People's Rep. of China
1:03.04
3 5 YAMAGUCHI Yoshihisa Japan
1:03.22
4 1 YANG Shang Hsuan Chinese Taipei
1:04.09
5 7 CHIA Tshun Thau Malaysia
1:04.22
6 2 CHENG Hao People's Rep. of China
1:04.52
7 8 TAM Chi Kin Hong Kong, China
1:05.55
— 6 CHEN Cho Yi Chinese Taipei
1:04.33
B 1 5 CHUA Raphael Philippines
1:06.11
2 3 RYZHKOV Yevgeniy Kazakhstan
1:06.24
3 6 SON Sung Uk Korea
1:06.33
4 4 AL-KUDMANI Ahmad Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1:06.41
5 2 RYU Seung Hyun Korea
1:06.54
6 7 TRAN Xuan Hien Vietnam
1:07.16
7 8 MA Chan Wai Macau
1:08.79
8 1 GHASSAN F Wael Qatar
1:10.30
Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final
Heat Rank Lane Country Name Record
F 1 4 Japan
FUJITA Shunichi
OKUMURA Yoshihiro
HOSOKAWA Daisuke
ICHIKAWA Yosuke
7:20.59
2 3 People's Rep. of China
WU Peng
CHEN Zuo
YU Cheng
LIU Yu
7:25.36
3 5 Korea
CHOI Won Il
KO Yun Ho
KIM Bang Hyun
HAN Kyu Chul
7:29.36
4 2 Kazakhstan
KVASSOV Andrey
SITNIKOV Igor
TITORENKO Vyacheslav
SHTEINIKOV Oleg
7:44.58
5 7 Hong Kong, China
KWOK Kin Ming Mark
SZETO Shui Ki
FUNG Hok Him
CHUNG Kwok Leung
7:44.73
6 6 Uzbekistan
VASILEV Peter
GALYAUTDINOV Albert
AGAFONOV Alexander
PUKHNATIY Oleg
7:51.23
7 1 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
AL-MOTAR Maher
AL-YOUSEF MOD
AL-KUDMANI Ahmad
YAMANI Mohammed
8:20.34
8 8 Qatar
EL-AARAG Moyssara
ABUYOUSUF Anas
OLAN Abdulla
SALAMOUN Ahmed
8:40.27