September 26: Hong Kong swimmer Siobhan Haughey issued another warning for next year's Paris Olympics as hosts China won the first eSports gold medal in the 72-year history of the Asian Games on Tuesday.

According to AFP, audiences of overwhelmingly young spectators packed out the 4,500-capacity Hangzhou Esports Center in the hope of catching one of their heroes, especially South Korea's Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok.

Medals are up for grabs in seven gaming titles, with China grabbing the first gold when they defeated Malaysia in the final of smartphone game Arena of Valor. Malaysia took home silver and Thailand bronze.

According to the French news agency, China's place in the Games record books helped the home nation increase their overall tally of golds to 53 at the end of three days of action.

They are way ahead of South Korea (14 golds), Japan (eight) and Uzbekistan and Hong Kong (both five).

Haughey fires warning

With the 2024 Paris Olympics just 10 months away, Haughey won her second gold of the Games in another impressive performance in the pool which will make her rivals sit up and take notice.

She shattered her own Asian record to add the Games 100m freestyle title to her Olympic and world silver medals, added AFP.

The 25-year-old produced an exceptional swim on Monday to crush the pack by nearly two seconds and take out the 200m crown, smashing an Asian Games record that had stood since 2010.

She was fired up again over the shorter distance in blasting a 52.17sec to send a warning to Australian freestylers Mollie O'Callaghan and Emma McKeon.

Haughey previously set an Asian record of 52.27 when she came second to McKeon at the Tokyo Olympics. Only world champion O'Callaghan has gone faster in 2023.

According to AFP, China again bossed the Hangzhou pool, taking four of the six golds on the night. The other went to Tomoru Honda, who stunned exhausted Japanese team-mate Daiya Seto in the 400m medley.

China rack up more golds

On another day of dominance, China's all-powerful table tennis squad swept past rivals Japan 3-0 in the women's team final. They also claimed men's team gold over South Korea by the same scoreline.

In artistic gymnastics, Zhang Boheng won gold in the men's all-around final.

But China were dethroned by Japan in the men's team sprint at the Chun'an Jieshou Sports Centre Velodrome on the first day of action on the cycling track.

China's women made no mistake in their team sprint final, beating South Korea to the title.