NAGOYA: Persistent rain disrupted the Asian Games programme on Monday, forcing events indoors and creating scheduling headaches across Aichi-Nagoya, while Philippine tennis trailblazer Alexandra Eala launched her gold-medal campaign in ruthless fashion and athletics produced a series of records and strong performances.
Eala, the Philippines’ first WTA Tour champion, beat Thailand’s Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes to reach the quarter-finals.
The world No. 18 had been scheduled to play on the 3,500-capacity outdoor centre court at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center, but rain forced the match indoors, where only a few dozen spectators, including media, team officials and volunteers, were present.
Eala said she was “ready for anything” and added that the court measurements were the same and the conditions were good. She next faces Taiwan’s eighth seed Joanna Garland, who was born in Britain.
Rain also affected softball and ruined golf practice, while Typhoon Surigae was projected towards central Japan and Tokyo, raising the prospect of further disruption.
China had amassed 131 gold medals by Monday evening, with Japan second and South Korea third. China remained unbeaten in diving and dominated table tennis, taking the women’s doubles and men’s singles titles.
Athletics provided another strong night for China, which won four titles, including both 4x100m relay golds, while the UAE’s 18-year-old Mariam Kareem and Japan’s Kazuto Iizawa set Asian Games records.
Kareem won the women’s 400m hurdles in 54.31 seconds, lowering the previous Games record of 54.45 set at Hangzhou in 2023. Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems took silver and India’s Vithya Ramraj bronze.
Iizawa clocked 3:36.35 to win the men’s 1,500m, becoming the first Japanese man in 40 years to claim the Asian Games title in the event. India’s Gulveer Singh took silver and Japan’s Nagiya Mori bronze.
“What was asked of me was a gold medal, and I am glad I delivered it,” Iizawa said. “I do not want to stop at this. I want to go higher.”
China’s Feng Bin retained the women’s discus title with a final-round throw of 63.83 metres, while compatriot Jiang Zhichao took silver. Shi Yuhao won the men’s long jump with a season-best 8.17m, ahead of India’s Hangzhou champion Murali Sreeshankar.
China then swept the 4x100m relay titles. Liang Xiaojing, Liu Guoyi, Liu Xiajun and Chen Yujie won the women’s race in 42.96 seconds, while Chen collected her third medal of the Games after gold in the 100m and silver in the 200m.
Chen Jinfeng, Zeng Keli, Wang Shengjie and Xie Zhenye won the men’s relay in 38.17. Japan’s Ryuji Miura won the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, while Kenyan-born Bahraini Winfred Yavi took the women’s 5,000m. China also won its mixed 4x100m relay heat to reach the final.
Lin Yu-ting, Taiwan’s Olympic champion, secured at least a bronze in the women’s 60kg boxing competition by defeating North Korea’s Won Un Gyong. She is seeking a second Asian Games title.
Lin had considered retirement after Paris but continued amid the eligibility controversy that followed the 2023 world championships. The IBA said she and Algeria’s Imane Khelif had failed unspecified eligibility tests, while the IOC allowed both to compete at the Paris Olympics, where they won gold.
The Games have faced criticism over accommodation and transport, with complaints about room shortages and airport delays adding to the disruption caused by the weather.
Uzbekistan canoeist Pavel Eygel became the fourth athlete provisionally suspended at the Games after testing positive for trimetazidine, a banned heart medication. Earlier cases involved Dayanch Keletliyev and Nodirbek Shavkatov.
Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026
