DOHA, Dec 2: China's Asian Games campaign started with a bang on Saturday with their shooters sweeping all six gold medals up for grabs in the event. Favourite Li Chen, 32, showed her class in trap shooting despite shifting winds, leading China to a one-two finish in the individual trap and capturing the team title with Wang Yujin and Zhu Mei.

Li clinched 89 from a possible 100 in the trap for gold, with compatriot Zhu taking silver following a shoot-off with Taiwan's Lin Yi-chun.

Liu Tianyou and Li Du won the men's and women's 10m air rifle titles respectively, while China also won men's and women's 10m air rifle team gold.

“I perform as usual, nothing special,” a super cool Li Chen said. “But I'm very happy for the win.”

The men's air rifle team kicked things off by winning the first gold of the Games in the Qatari capital.

Olympic champion Zhu Qinan, reigning Games champion Li Jie and Liu Tianyou tallied 1,786 points, nine ahead of South Korea's Yu Jae-chul, Chae Kean-bae and Kim Hye-sung.

The Indian trio of Gagan Narang, P.T. Raghunath and Navanath Fartade took the bronze medal. The 24-year-old Liu went on to upstage his compatriots by bagging the individual air rifle gold, with Zhu relegated to silver and South Korea's Yu Jae-chul taking bronze.

Chinese head coach Wang Yifu was pleased with the team's start.

“Overall we performed very well today, but our shooters were a bit nervous and under pressure,” he said.

“It is not easy to win a gold medal in the rifle event because Korea and India shooters are very strong competitors.—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

A difficult story
Updated 12 Jun, 2026

A difficult story

Unless productivity becomes the dominant target of economic policy, Pakistan will continue to oscillate between crises and fragile recovery.
Rough waters
12 Jun, 2026

Rough waters

AMONGST the key potential triggers for fresh conflict in South Asia is water. The Indian state is behaving in an...
Politicised football
12 Jun, 2026

Politicised football

ALMOST three-and-half years since Lionel Messi led Argentina to FIFA World Cup glory, the latest edition of...
GB polls’ aftermath
Updated 11 Jun, 2026

GB polls’ aftermath

The new administration must address the region’s issues proactively.
Peace in retreat
11 Jun, 2026

Peace in retreat

THE ceasefire announced in April was supposed to create space for negotiations. Instead, it has been repeatedly...
A few good men
11 Jun, 2026

A few good men

IT was a brave move, no doubt. This Tuesday, in the land of the Afghan Taliban, a few good men decided to take a...