Japan, South Korea and China make their mark

Japan dominated the swimming, South Korea moved towards the soccer quarter-finals and China's women added to the country's gold medal haul in cycling, weightlifting, judo and fencing at the Asian Games on Monday.

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima was a class above the opposition as the Pan Pacific champion stormed to gold in the men's 100 metres breaststroke.

Takahiro Mori, Yuko Nakanishi and the men's 4x200 metres freestyle team were also victorious at Pusan's Sajik Pool as Japan won four out of five finals to take a 4-1 first-day lead over fierce rivals China in the swimming gold medal standings.

Kitajima lowered the Asian Games record for the second time in eight hours in the final, clocking one minute and 45 seconds.

"I swam a great race in Yokohama but there was something missing today. 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 American phenomenon Michael Phelps in Yokohama, went one better this time, touching in a new Asian record of 2:00.53 in the final of the 200 individual medley to take the first gold of the evening.

"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," said Mori

China briefly interrupted Japan's dominance when national champion Yang Yu won the women's 200 freestyle in another Games record and a personal best of 1:58.43.

Normal service was quickly resumed, however, as Yuko Nakanishi won the women's 200 butterfly final in 2:08.99.

Japan underlined their superiority by winning gold in the men's 4x200 freestyle relay in 7:20.59, the fourth Games record of the day.

KOREA MARCH ON

South Korea marched towards the soccer quarter-finals with the 5-2 thrashing of Oman that had the home fans screaming with joy as goals from Cho Sung Hwan, Kin Du Hyan, Lee Dong Gook and a couple from centre forward Lee Choon Soo secured the points.

Coach Park hang-seo, who took over from Duthcman Guus Hiddink after the World Cup, was delighted with his team as they followed their opening 4-0 win over the Maldives with another impressive attacking display full of speed and invention.

China are also in the running for a place in the last eight after coasting to a 3-0 win over Bangladesh. They next face a showdown with India, who trailed at the break but rallied in the second half to beat Turkmenistan 3-1, to decide top spot.

Thailand and the United Arab Emirates will contest qualification from their group after the former beat Vietnam 3-0 and the latter secured a 2-1 win over Yemen.

More gold medals were handed out in cycling with Kazakhstan's Andrei Teteriouk winning the men's 48.4 km individual time trial with a time of 1:02:11. In the women's 24.2 km individual time trial, the gold went to China's Li Meifang.

China advanced to the basketball quarter-finals with a 114-36 victory over Hong Kong, while North Korea were beaten 89-63 by the Philippines. Hosts South Korea topped Japan 79-62.

In fencing, South Korea's Lee Shin-mi won the gold in women's individual sabre, outclass team mate Lee Gyu-young. In the individual foil, China's Zhang Lei took the gold, beating second place Lim Mi-kyung of South Korea.

South Korea's Jo Su-hee topped Mizuho Matsuzaki to win the women's under-78 kg judo gold. China's Pan Yuqing and Nasiba Salayeva of Turkmenistan got bronze medals.

In the men's under-100 kg, Japan's Keiji Suzuki beat world Jang Sung-Hoo of South Korea 2-1. The bronze medals went to Kazakhstan's Askhat Zhitkeyev and Abbas Fallah of Iran.

Chinese Olympic champion Sun Fuming won the gold in the women's over 78-kg, with South Korea's Choi Sook-ie taking the silver and bronzes going to Dolgorma Erden of Mongolia and Thailand's Pestonyee Parad.

In the women's 48-kg weightlifting, China's Li Zhuo won gold with a total of 200 kg, with Kay Thi Win of Myanmar taking the silver and Raema Lisa Rumbewas of Indonesia taking the bronze.