China's Sprinters Storm Into Asian Games Hurdles Final

Rain fell hard over the Asian Games athletics track on the evening of September 26, but it did little to slow China’s hurdlers. Chen Yuanjiang, 21, clocked 13.52 seconds to win his heat of the men’s 110-meter hurdles, while teammate Liu Junxi advanced with 13.69 seconds as one of the fastest third-place finishers. The final is set for tomorrow, and both Chinese runners will be in the starting blocks.

The men’s 110m hurdles has long carried special weight in China. Liu Xiang’s gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics turned the event into a national obsession, and a new generation has spent years chasing that legacy. Chen’s time in the rain was the second-fastest of the preliminary round, behind Japan’s Rachid Muratake, who crossed in 13.27 seconds. The final also includes runners from the Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Qatar and Singapore, making it one of the most internationally balanced finals of the athletics program.

There was drama in the heats as well. Japan’s Shunsuke Izumiya, a former national record holder, fell and was eliminated in the first round, a reminder of how unforgiving hurdling can be in wet conditions. For Chen and Liu, the challenge tomorrow will be managing nerves and the slippery track against a field that includes several athletes with personal bests under 13.4 seconds.

China’s badminton team had a long, eventful day at the Asian Games. Wang Zhiyi advanced to the women’s singles quarterfinals after her South Korean opponent, Kim Ga-eun, retired midway through the second game with the score at 21-14, 11-6. Wang will next face the winner of a match between two other contenders, keeping her medal hopes alive.

In women’s doubles, Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning needed 96 minutes to complete a comeback against South Korea’s Kim Hye-jeong and Lee Yeon-woo, winning 19-21, 21-9, 21-18. The pair, both still in their early twenties, have become one of China’s most exciting doubles combinations, and their resilience in a three-game thriller delighted the home crowd. They advance to the quarterfinals against a Chinese Taipei pair.

Table tennis brought more good news. In the men’s doubles quarterfinals, Wen Ruibo and Xiang Peng swept past Iran’s Noshad and Nima Alamian 3-0. Wen admitted the second game was difficult, crediting quick communication with his partner for turning the match. In the women’s doubles, Wang Manyu and Kuai Man defeated Japan’s Miyu Nagasaki and Rin Mende 3-0, dropping only 14 points across three games. Another Chinese pair, Chen Yi and Fan Shuhan, lost 0-3 to Japan’s Miwa Harimoto and Hina Hayata, leaving China with one team in the women’s doubles semifinals.

Off the track and court, one small moment charmed viewers: sprinter Wu Yanni was seen calmly touching up her makeup in the call room before her 100-meter hurdles heat, drawing two streaks of red on her cheeks. The gesture, captured on camera, quickly circulated online as a symbol of composure under pressure.

For global fans, the Hangzhou Asian Games offer a snapshot of how deep China’s sporting bench has become. Hurdlers, shuttlers and paddlers are all in medal contention, and the coming days will show whether home advantage translates into gold. The men’s 110m hurdles final, in particular, is worth circling: a young Chinese duo against a strong Japanese field, on a track that has already proven unpredictable.