HANGZHOU, China - North Korea's record-shattering performances at the Asian Games weightlifting continued on Monday, while Olympic champion Zhu Xueying bounced her way to a trampoline gold.
Kim Il Gyong hoisted a world mark on the way to clinching gold in the women's 59-kg division, lifting 111kg in the snatch to better the 110kg record set by Taiwanese Olympic champion Kuo Hsing-chun in 2021.
The 20-year-old became the reclusive east Asian nation's third female weightlifter to get into the world-record books in Hangzhou.
Ri Song Gum and Kang Hyong Yong set records in winning gold in the 49-kg and 55-kg divisions respectively on Saturday.
North Korea has been deemed non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency for years and the weightlifting performances have come at the nation's first international competition since before COVID-19.
"I would assume they have done the right thing if they are able to compete (in Hangzhou) but there are a lot of lingering questions," Australian Weightlifting Federation president Sam Coffa told Reuters.
Trampoline gymnast Zhu led a Chinese 1-2 at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and did the same in Hangzhou, edging her compatriot Hu Yicheng with a spectacular display of aerial acrobatics.
Japan's Reina Satake, however, pushed the envelope too far in her routine and fell off the trampoline bed to finish last of the final five.
Indian athletics was rocked by an incendiary social media post by one of its heptathletes who said she had "lost" the bronze medal to an unnamed transgender athlete.
"I want my medal back as it is against the rules of our athletics," Swapna Barman wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, in a post later deleted.
Barman finished fourth in the heptathlon behind compatriot Nandini Agasara, who took exception to Barman's post, telling Indian media she would take up the issue with the country's athletics federation.
"I know what I am. Ask her to show proof," she said in comments published by India Today.
After eliminating China's table tennis world champions in the women's doubles quarter-finals, the dream run of Indian duo Suthirta Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee ended in the semis when they fell in seven games to North Koreans Cha Su Yong and Pak Su Yong.
Cha and Pak face South Korean pair Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin in the gold-medal decider.
Japan completed a clean sweep of the triathlon titles, taking the mixed team gold ahead of runners-up China after winning the individual men's and women's events.
China dominated the opening day of the canoe sprint events, claiming four out of the six gold medals on offer.
But Kazakhstan's Sergey Yemelyanov was thrilled to win the men's canoe double in the 500 metres with team mate Timur Khaidarov, continuing a strong family tradition at the Games.
Yemelyanov's brothers Mikhail and Timofey won a canoeing gold at Incheon in 2014.
"My emotions, of course, are off the charts because I only won silver medals at the last two Asian Games," he said.
"Tomorrow I will continue with Timofey in the 1,000 metres. I hope there will be a victory." REUTERS
