Team China added two more dragon boat gold medals in the men's and women's 500m straight race finals on Thursday at the Hangzhou Asian Games, after winning the 200m events a day ago.
China's men's dragon boat team win the 500m final at the 19th Asian Games in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, October 5, 2023. /CFP
The Chinese men's squad outclassed Indonesia by a margin of 0.013 seconds, followed by Thailand in third place in 2:09.822.
The Chinese women's squad later won the title in 2:21.360, followed by Indonesia and Myanmar.
China's women's dragon boat team win the 500m final at the 19th Asian Games in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, October 5, 2023. /CFP
Dragon boat offers a total of six gold medals in a span of three days, with China winning all four finals that have finished. They won the men's and women's 200m events on Wednesday in 48.464 seconds and 53.804 seconds, respectively.
The remaining finals, namely the men's and women's 1,000m, will take place on Friday.
Chen Fangjia, captain of the Chinese men's squad, said after Wednesday's victory that his side only won it thanks to the tough training prior, as multiple members in both men's and women's squads did not originally specialize in the sport but were transferred from canoe and kayak events.
This is the third time dragon boat has been designated as an official sport at the Asian Games. It made its debut in the Guangzhou edition in 2010 and was listed as an official program again in Jakarta in 2018. The Hangzhou Asiad has 12 delegations competing in the sport.
Though not an official Olympic sport, dragon boat made its appearance as a demonstration sport before the opening of the final canoe race at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Meanwhile, making a debut at the Asiad, breakdancing, officially called breaking, events are set to kick off on Friday. Four athletes will represent China, including teenage hopeful Liu Qingyi, Zeng Yingying, Shang Xiaoyu and Qi Xiangyu, across the women's and men's events.
Breakdancing will also debut at the Olympics in Paris next year.