T

he weightlifting team contributed another medal to the Indonesian delegation at the Asian Games on the second day of competition, which was marked by tight rivalry between Japan and China in the swimming pool, on Sunday.

Eko Yuli Irawan won bronze in the men'€™s 62 kg division to top off his Olympic bronze medals in London and Beijing. In the women'€™s section, Syarah Anggraini and Citra Febrianti failed to make it into the top three in the 53 kg division.

From Songdo Global University, the volleyball players made positive march toward their target of winning silver, when Dian Putra Santoso and Fahriansyah won their first game in Pool C over Sri Lanka.

At some of the other venues, it was discouraging news, especially on the tennis and sepaktakraw courts, where Indonesia'€™s athletes folded to their regional rivals.

The country'€™s tennis team, which fielded Aditya Harry Sasongko, Christopher Rungkat and men'€™s doubles pair David Agung Susanto and Elbert Sie, lost 0-3 to Thailand on the Yeorumul court, while Syamsul Hadi, Nofrizal and Saiful Rijal were overpowered by their Myanmarese opponents.

The wushu team has yet to add to its silver collection after Achmad Hulaefi finished fifth in the men'€™s gunshu competition and sixth in daoshu.

However, the biggest shock of the day came from the Gyeyang Gymnasium, where Indonesia'€™s men'€™s badminton team failed to advance to the semifinals, losing to Chinese Taipei. Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Aksan lived up to their world credentials but their teammates collapsed under the pressure as Chinese Taipei cruised to a 3-1 win to meet South Korea in the semifinals.

I Gede Siman Sudartawa, as expected, was unable to challenge Asia'€™s best swimmers during the opening day of competition in the pool, during which China and Japan shared the six gold medals on offer.

Siman clocked a time of 56.73 seconds in the men'€™s backstroke final, only finishing in sixth place out of eight swimmers. Ryosuke Irie of Japan won the gold in a time of 52.34 seconds, followed by Xu Jiayu of China in 52.81 seconds and Japan'€™s Kosuke Hagino in 53.71.

Minutes earlier, Hagino had stolen the limelight when he sprinted the last few meters to beat favorites Sun Yang and homegrown hero Park Tae-hwan.

Korea'€™s disappointment in the pool was offset by its success on the judo mat, where the host contingent swept three of the five golds on offer. They also won the two gold medals on offer in fencing and took two from the shooting range.

Japan'€™s other gold in the pool came in the men'€™s 200 meter butterfly, while China prevailed in the women'€™s 400 m freestyle, women'€™s 100 m breaststroke and women'€™s 4x100 m relay.

The three golds from the swimming pool, two in judo and one in gymnastics bolstered Japan'€™s position on the overall medal table, but the top two places still belonged to China and Korea. Both have amassed the same number of 12 gold medals, but the reigning champion China has more silver than the hosts.

As many as 27 gold medals will be up for grabs on Monday from 11 venues, with the swimming arena offering six of them. Judo will provide five and shooting, four. The rest will be battled over in fencing (2), sepaktakraw (2), weightlifting (2), wushu (2), synchronized swimming (1), badminton (1), cycling (1) and gymnastics (1).