The first set of medals were awarded today at the 2025 Asian Canoe Confederation Canoe Sprint Asian Championships, with hosts China ruling the roost.
China took gold in all eight finals at the Yaohu International Aquatic Sports Centre with one more day of competition remaining.
Teenage star Wu Shengyue started the haul for the hosts by winning the men's canoe single 1000m in style.
His timing of 4:15.80 was enough to beat defending champion Mohammad Nabi Rezaei of Iran, who settled for silver.
Kuan-Chieh Lai of Chinese Taipei, who won the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games title over the distance, got bronze in 4:24.91.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian and three-time Asian Games champion Zhang Dong secured the men's kayak single 1000m title for China.
He clinched a superb victory by more than one second over seven-time Asian champion Ali Aghamirzaeijenaghard of Iran, who won silver in 3:49.94, and bronze went to Uzbek star Oleksandr Zarubin.
Lingya Chen won the third gold medal of the day for China by crossing the line in 4:23.60 in the women's K1 1000m.
Kazakhstan opened their account when Stela Sukhanova followed Chen for silver in 4:24.87 and Iranian Narjes Kargarpoor got bronze.
The women's canoe double 1000m final saw one of the biggest victory margins as China’s Anshuo Teng and Xina Jiang won by more than eight seconds against silver medallists and the Vietnamese duo of Hong Thai Nguyen and Thi Huong Nguyen, who clocked 4:42.210.
Un Yong Cha and Ye Song Jong won bronze for North Korea in 4:50.99.
Yutao Gao and Yukun Gao of China managed to edge Uzbekistan's Mirismanov Mukhammadali and Diyorbek Mamatkulov of Uzbekistan, and Asian Games silver medallists Shahriyor Daminov and Amirjan Bobojonov of Tajikistan for the men's C2 1000m gold medal.
China won the mixed kayak four 500m title by a fine margin, triumphing in 1:34.23, as Japan fell short by 0.69 to take silver and Kazakhstan got bronze.
Yanan Ma of China was victorious in the women's C1 500m for the hosts, getting the better of Vietnam's Diep Thi Huong, who crossed the line in 2:19.49, 3.99 behind Ma.
Two-time Asian Games medallist and Paris 2024 Olympian Mariya Brovkova of Kazakhstan won bronze.
China's last title of the day came in the men's C2 500m, courtesy of Yuebin Yu and Chenwei Yu, finishing in 1:48.94.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan won silver and bronze, respectively.
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