Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Gaag and China's Wang Hongni snapped up the first Asian Games triathlon gold medals when the endurance sport made its debut at the continental event on Friday.
The 35-year-old Gaag, fourth when triathlon made its Olympic debut in Sydney six years ago, emerged from the pack during the 10km run after placing eighth in the 1,500m swim and fourth in the 40km bike ride to win the men's title in 1:50.53.
"Definitely running is my best part of the triathlon," the former world champion said. "From the start my tactic was to preserve strength as much as possible for the run."
Hong Kong's Daniel Lee Chi Wo earned silver by pipping Gaag's compatriot Daniil Sapunov by less than two seconds in a sprint finish at the end of the 51.5km event. Japan's ironmen Ryosuke Yamamoto and Hirokatsu Tayama finished a disappointing fourth and fifth.
Wang, a former cyclist, upset Japanese favourite Ai Ueda by finishing second in the swimming, blowing away the field with a bike ride five minutes better than anyone else and running home more than four minutes ahead of Ueda in a time of 1:59:44.
Asian champion Ueda took silver ahead of compatriot Akiko Sekine, who put in the best time in the run to overhaul China's Xing Lin and claim bronze.
RYU, MIYAZATO SHARE ASIAD WOMEN'S GOLF LEAD South Korean 16-year-old Ryu So-Yeon eagled twice to share a one-stroke lead witn Japan's world junior champion Mika Miyazato in the first round of the Asian Games women's golf tournament here Friday.
Ryu also rolled in four birdies against one bogey to hole out with a seven-under-par 66 on a short 5,751-yard layout specially set up for the women's event at the Doha Golf Club. The score itself was the best for the course which is normally played over 7,347 yards.
CHINA WINS FIRST EVER BODYBUILDING GOLD: China's Qian Ji Cheng won his country's first ever bodybuilding gold medal when he took the Asian Games 60kg title Friday. Pham Van Mach of Vietnam took the silver and Singapore's Ibrahim Sihat won the bronze.
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