by Sportswriter Li Jia

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A new generation of sporting stars took center stage at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday. China's 17-year-old sprint sensation Chen Yujie and Thailand's 20-year-old Puripol Boonson claimed the women's and men's 100m titles, respectively, while 19-year-old swimmer Zhang Zhanshuo capped off an incredible campaign with his seventh gold medal.

Chen led all the way to win the women's 100m title in a Games record of 11.06 seconds, also setting a new U-20 Asian record. Singapore's Shanti Pereira and Bahrain's Edidiong Odiong took silver and bronze in 11.21 and 11.33, respectively. Boonson timed 9.90 to win the men's sprint, a new Games record. Oman runners took silver and bronze. China's Zeng Keli and Xie Zhenye finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

China extended its remarkable dominance in the women's shot put, claiming a 13th consecutive title at the Asian Games. Song Jiayuan threw a season-best 19.40 meters to grab the gold, while teammate Zhang Linru took silver with a mark of 18.14 meters.

"I'm very excited and emotional because I had surgery last year," Song said after her victory. "This time my coach didn't come here with me, so I am very proud and happy to have performed that well on the field."

China missed out on an eighth consecutive women's pole vault title after Niu Chunge, the Asian record holder, took a silver with 4.50m. Japan's Misaki Morota jumped a personal best 4.55m to win the gold medal. In the hammer throw, Uzbekistan's Sukhrob Khodjaev won the title with 74.38m. Meanwhile, on the track, Bahrain's Birhanu Balew brought home gold in the men's 10,000m, clocking a time of 28:27.51.

In swimming, China's Zhang Zhanshuo capped off a remarkable campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asiad, completing a seven-gold haul with a victory in the men's 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on Friday.

The 19-year-old sensation won seven of the eight events he entered. His individual triumphs included the 800m and 1,500m freestyle, as well as an Asian-record finish in the 200m freestyle. He also propelled China to three relay golds: the men's 4x100m medley, the 4x200m freestyle (in an Asian record of 7:00.17), and the 4x100m freestyle (in another Asian record of 3:10.60).

Zhang became the first swimmer to win seven gold medals at a single edition of the Asian Games. More significantly, his haul equaled the Games record for most gold medals won by an athlete at a single edition, a mark set by DPRK shooter So Gil-san in 1982.

"Of course, I'm very happy to win these seven gold medals, and I will turn them into greater motivation going forward," he said.

Also in the pool, butterfly veteran Zhang Yufei won the women's 50m butterfly, while world champion Qin Haiyang successfully defended his title in the men's 50m breaststroke. Freestyle specialist Li Bingjie staged a brilliant comeback to win the women's 800m freestyle, and the Chinese quartet triumphed in the women's 4x100m medley relay in a Games record 3:54.55 to round out another golden night for the team.

Elsewhere, Wang Kuan-hung of Chinese Taipei secured the men's 200m butterfly title, while Japan's Kodai Nishiono touched first in the men's 200m backstroke, leaving China's Xu Jiayu to settle for bronze.

With the swimming concluded, China firmly established its sheer dominance in the sport, claiming 30 gold medals in a total of 41 events.

Away from the pool, at the weightlifting venue, China's Yang Liuyue claimed two new world records in the snatch and total of the women's 61kg event, hoisting 112kg in the snatch for a gold-medal total of 251kg. In the clean and jerk, silver medalist Pak Jin Hae of the DPR Korea set a new world record with a lift of 139kg, which Yang later matched. Meanwhile, DPRK's Oh Kwang Ok took home the women's 57kg title.

In gymnastics, China added more hardware with Zou Jingyuan winning the men's parallel bars and Tian Hao taking gold in the men's horizontal bar. Qiu Qiyuan also secured a silver in the women's balance beam. Over at the shooting range, Olympic champions Zhang Changhong, Liu Yukun, and Sheng Lihao led China to the men's 50m rifle three positions team title, with Liu also claiming the individual gold. India took the third shooting gold of the day, winning the 10m air pistol mixed team title.

Moreover, China's equestrian team made history by winning the team dressage gold for the first time at the Asian Games. In the men's mountain bike cross-country race, China's Yuan Jinwei staged a brilliant comeback to win in 1:25:15, finishing just three seconds ahead of Japan's Tatsuumi Soejima. In fencing, China won the women's epee team by beating South Korea 45-28, but Hong Kong, China lost to Japan in the men's foil team final.

It was a tale of mixed fortunes for China in team sports. In the women's football quarterfinals, China and Vietnam battled into extra time before Wang Shuang netted a dramatic 109th-minute winner to seal a 1-0 victory. China will advance to face the DPRK in the semifinals, following the latter's 5-1 routing of Chinese Taipei in their quarterfinal clash.

However, on the basketball court, the defending champion Chinese women's team saw their bid for a third straight title dashed after falling to South Korea 85-80 in Thursday's semifinals. Despite dominating the rebounds 52-31 thanks to their height advantage, a scoreless night from three-point range (0-for-13) combined with 18 turnovers left China without enough firepower to close out the win.

In table tennis, China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, and Lin Shidong and Kuai Man, won their respective mixed doubles semifinals Friday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to set up an all-Chinese final.

After six days of competition, China led the medal table with 98 gold, 37 silver and 24 bronze medals. Japan was second with 28 gold, 43 silver and 44 bronze medals, followed by South Korea with 13 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze medals.