Rising Stars: The Phenomenal Teen Athletes Who Dominated the Asian Games

Teenage athletes have headlined some of the biggest Asian Games triumphs, leading their countries to historic gold medals, breaking records and cementing their legacy as formidable forces in the field. Far from being intimidated by competitors double or triple their age, these schoolchildren remained cool and unfazed as they cruised to gold at their Asian Games debut.

Al Jazeera Sport looks at some of the stars who left their mark in Japan:

Yu Zidi, 13 (China: Swimming)

At just 13, Yu was named female Most Valuable Player (MVP), as she bagged three gold medals and broke as many Asian Games records in a fairytale debut. Her time of two minutes and 6.10 seconds (2:06.10) in the 200m IM stands as a world junior record and second-fastest time ever.

Zhang Zhanshuo, 19 (China: Swimming)

Zhang held up seven fingers after his 400m freestyle win to count out his gold medals at the Games – the most at this edition. He set Games records in the 400m and 800m freestyle, an Asian record in the 200m, and helped power China to gold and Asian records in the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.

Shin Ohashi, 17 (Japan: Swimming)

Ohashi broke the world record in the men’s 200m breaststroke (2:04.83) in front of a home crowd to become the first swimmer under the 2:05 mark. The gold added to his title in the 100m breaststroke shared with China’s Dong Zhihao.

Yan Ziyi, 18 (China: Athletics)

Yan was already javelin world number one and Asian record holder when she stepped onto the field for her Games debut – her first and only throw of 70.46 metres was enough for gold and a Games record.

Chen Yujie, 17 (China: Athletics)

Chen stormed to a new Games record in the women’s 100m en route to her first gold as she announced herself as the new sprint queen in Asia, following up with a silver in the 200m and gold in the women’s and mixed 4x100m relays.

Taiju Goto, 17 (Japan: Athletics)

Goto narrowly missed gold in the men’s 400m hurdles, but his 47.93s was enough for a world under-18 best time, Asian under-20 best time, and a new personal best.

Kumkum Mohod, 17 (India: Archery)

Mohod scripted history for India when she became the first Indian to win an individual recurve archery gold at the Games, defeating South Korea’s reigning world champion and Olympic medallist Kang Chaeyoung.

Anahat Singh, 18 (India: Squash)

World junior champion Anahat Singh won a silver in the women’s singles against world number five Sivasangari Subramaniam of Malaysia, calling her semifinal win against Japan’s Satomi Watanabe the best of her career.

Yuki Kurihara, 11 (Japan: e-sports)

At just 11 years of age, e-sports prodigy Kurihara became the youngest gold medallist in Asian Games history when he won Puyo Puyo Champions.

Ku Yong-yan, 12 (Taipei: Skateboarding)

Ku took silver in the men’s skateboarding park with 87.33 points, joining a wave of young pre-teen and teen medalists in skateboarding alongside Japan’s Izuru Nagahara and China’s Zhu Yuanling.