Uzbekistan gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, 51, defies the years in Asian Games final

With minimal razzmatazz, an absence of semi-clad women carrying boards, or childish pre-fight hype, little evidence of claret on canvas and certainly no cages, this is not the MMA you know – and that is exactly the way officials want it. The sport made its debut at the Asian Games this week, an important step in a journey it hopes will lead to inclusion in other continental multi-sport events and eventually a place on the biggest stage of all, ideally at the Brisbane Olympics in 2032 if all goes...

Teen sensation Shin Ohashi laid down a marker for swimming’s best, powering to Asian Games 200m breaststroke gold in a world record time on Thursday. The 17-year-old Japanese swimmer came home in a time of two minutes, 04.83 seconds, shattering the previous best of 2:05.48 set by China’s Qin Haiyang in 2023. Kyrgyzstan’s Denis Petrashov took silver in 2:08.67, while the bronze medal went to South Korea’s Cho Sung-jae, who finished in 2:08.76. Moments earlier, Siobhan Haughey won her second...

Three years is a long time in sport, and all athletes have to deal with ups and downs, but few have quite experienced the challenge that emerging Chinese swimmer Yu Yiting has had to face: the sudden, if not entirely unexpected, rise of her teenage compatriot Yu Zidi. But despite facing some serious challenges from the much younger swimmer, Yu Yiting rediscovered her form just before the Asian Games and took her medal tally in Japan to four on Wednesday, storming back from behind at the turn to...

Apprentice Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu celebrated her first Happy Valley win on Wednesday night as trainers David Eustace and David Hall and jockeys Jerry Chau Chun-lok and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu fired in doubles. At her third meeting at the city circuit, Yuen was over the moon after lifting Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s Prestige Always to victory in the second section of the Class Three Mount Butler Handicap (1,200m). Despite being trapped three wide for the first half of the race, Prestige Always raced to the...

Table tennis fans had a unique experience watching star duo Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha beat their Uzbekistan opponents in the Asian Games, after state media used three smartphones to stream the match live to viewers back in China. The reason for the extraordinary measure? Out of nine competition tables, organisers of the Asian Games equipped only Tables 1 and 2 with broadcast cameras, leaving the rest without live coverage. Wang and Sun played on Table 4 at Sky Hall Toyota arena on...

North Korea’s Ri Song-gum set three world records to give her country their first gold in weightlifting at the Asian Games on Wednesday, while South Korea’s badminton world No 1 An Se-young had stern words for her watching father. Ri set the world records in the women’s 49kg class in Nagoya, joining an elite club of just four weightlifters who have won three Asian Games gold medals. The reigning two-time world champion added to her Asian Games golds in Jakarta in 2018 in the 48kg class and...

Hong Kong’s Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung beat her personal best time twice in a single day and broke a Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey on her way to bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Asian Games on Wednesday. The 24-year-old touched the wall in 58.05 seconds to finish third behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei, eclipsing Haughey’s previous city mark of 58.12 seconds set in 2023. China’s Yu and Zhang captured gold and silver with times of 56.41 and 56.44, respectively. Kan had...

Hong Kong wushu athlete Lydia Sham Hui-yu said a gruelling training schedule allowed her to deliver on an Asian Games gold medal pledge she made to her idol, Exo boy band member Kai. On Tuesday, after winning the women’s changquan event to secure Hong Kong’s first gold of the Asian Games, the 26-year-old posted a video on social media sharing the medal ceremony and tagging the official accounts of South Korean boy band Exo and Kai. “I kept the promise I made to Kim Jong-in [Kai] at the fan sign...

Hong Kong karate veteran Tsang Yee-ting finally stepped onto an Asian Games podium on Wednesday, taking silver in the women’s 50kg kumite final, and adding another medal to the city’s growing tally. There was success in the swimming pool too, with Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung taking bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly, while earlier, the men had won bronze in the team kata. In wushu, Leung Yu-hong beat Bintang Reindra Nada Guitara of Indonesia 2-1 to reach the men’s 60kg final, where he will face off...

Siobhan Haughey may have cemented her place as Hong Kong’s best athlete ever after capturing yet another Asian Games gold medal on Tuesday. Touching the wall first in 52.45 seconds – ahead of a pack of swimmers at least three years younger – to defend her women’s 100m freestyle title successfully pushed Haughey’s gold medal count at the regional multi-sports bonanza to four, after she also retained the 200m freestyle crown she won in Hangzhou the previous day. From showcasing to the world her...

The briefest of wobbles cost Chloe Leung Wing-yee Asian Games road race gold on Tuesday, but 48 hours after a bitterly disappointing individual time trial, the Hongkonger and her coach were content with the bronze she captured in Japan. Herve Dagorne suspected his rider was destined for victory as the 90.4km tussle in secluded Shinshiro City entered its business end. Committing unflinchingly to her pre-race strategy of attacking on the downhills, however, Leung slipped to hand the initiative to...

Madonna, Bob Dylan and Jack White have banned phones from their concerts. An exasperated Adele once asked an audience member: “Can you stop filming me? … You can enjoy it in real life rather than through your camera.” In the sporting sphere, however, those bastions of decorum at Augusta National Golf Club are alone in waging war on mobile devices, employing a strict cell phone ban for patrons attending the US Masters. Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 Open Championship winner and veteran of 18...