This article highlights standout teenage athletes from the Asian Games in Japan. It features several young competitors like Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi, aged 13, who won three gold medals and set multiple records; Zhang Zhanshuo, also 19, with seven gold medals and several record-breaking performances; and Japanese swimmer Shin Ohashi, 17, who broke the world record in the men’s 200m breaststroke. The piece emphasizes these athletes’ achievements and their ambitions to compete at higher levels like the Olympics.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
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.
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athletes → headline → 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.
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they → intimidate → debut
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sprinter → ruin → m
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Ng → book → list
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Nadeem → win → gold
Many are already familiar with the pressure and expectations of the world stage and have dominated their sport all season.
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Many → dominate → sport
Al Jazeera Sport looks at some of the stars who left their mark in Japan:
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who → look → 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.
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she → swim → debut
The schoolgirl stormed to victory in the women’s 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m individual medley (IM) and had a comfortable lead over her competitors.
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schoolgirl → storm → competitors
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.
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time → stand → record
“I don’t think I am what people describe as a prodigy,” she said after being crowned MVP.
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she → think → prodigy
“I will continue to train hard, push myself and work alongside young athletes across Asia to inspire more young people to love and take part in sports, especially swimming.”
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I → continue → sports
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, and more than what 27 of the 45 participating nations had in their medal tally at the conclusion of the event.
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27 → hold → event
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.
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He → set → relays
But the 19-year-old has bigger victories in sight.
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old → have → sight
I’m still aiming for the Olympics and competing with the best,” he said.
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he → aim → best
The teenager’s haul helped China sign off from swimming with 30 golds out of 41 medal events in the pool, with chief rival Japan a distant second with seven titles.
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Japan → help → titles
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.
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Ohashi → swim → mark
The gold added to his title in the 100m breaststroke shared with China’s Dong Zhihao, bronze in the 50m breaststroke, and silver in the mixed and men’s 4x100m medley relays.
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gold → add → relays
The teenager said he was surprised and honoured that Olympic champion Leon Marchand knew who he was, after the Frenchman described the 17-year-old as a “scary” prospect ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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Frenchman → say → Olympics
“I respect him because I know just how strong he is.
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he → respect → him
But if I want to win, he’s someone I know I’ll have to beat.”
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I → want → ?
Ohashi’s world record performance came just a week after the teenager recovered from COVID-19.
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teenager → come → COVID-19
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.
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throw → step → gold
It was the sixth-best of all time and well ahead of Olympic champion and home hero Haruka Kitaguchi’s 62.70m.
Yan is closing in on the world record of 72.28m set by Barbora Spotakova in 2008.
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Yan → close → 2008
In May, she hurled a world-leading, record-breaking 71.74m to open an unprecedented season.
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she → hurl → season
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.
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she → storm → Asia
“I have no limits,” was her response when asked how much faster she hopes to run.
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she → have → limits
She followed up her podium finish with a silver in the 200m and gold in the women’s and mixed 4x100m relays.
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She → follow → relays
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.
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47.93s → miss → time
The teen star has run sub-50 seconds eight times this season alone, an impressive feat for a 17-year-old.
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star → run → old
His Asian Games silver added to the World Under-20 one he bagged in August.
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he → add → August
Archery
Mohod scripted history for India when she became the first Indian to win an individual recurve archery gold at the Games.
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she → script → Games
The 17-year-old helped India to gold in the women’s team recurve, and partnered with Dhiraj Bommadevara for mixed team silver.
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old → help → silver
Mohod’s gold was no stroke of luck; she defeated South Korea’s reigning world champion and Olympic medallist Kang Chaeyoung in the quarterfinals before dominating China’s Zhu Jingyi in the semifinals.
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she → defeat → semifinals
“Ever since I’ve made it to the national team, I’ve been visualising this moment.
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I → make → moment
I had visualised shooting an X, and that is exactly what happened,” she told reporters after the match, according to Indian media.
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she → visualise → media
Despite only being 18, Aichi-Nagoya was Singh’s second Asian Games outing after competing at Hangzhou 2023, where she won two bronze medals in the mixed doubles and women’s team events.
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she → compete → doubles
This time round, she won a silver in the women’s singles against world number five Sivasangari Subramaniam of Malaysia.
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she → win → Malaysia
However, her semifinal match against Japan’s Satomi Watanabe was what she called the “best win” of her career after producing a stellar comeback to defeat the world number six.
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she → call → number
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
