Liu sets world record

Swimmer Liu Xiang set the first world record in the Asian Games pool and Sun Yang grabbed another slice of history as China sped away on the medals table yesterday.

As fans fumed over ticketing chaos and emergency services scrambled to douse a raging wildfire, Liu became the first female 50m backstroker to go below 27sec. Liu, 21, shattered compatriot Zhao Jing’s nine-year-old mark of 27.06, set wearing a bodysuit at the 2009 world championships in Rome.

Japan’s Rikako Ikee crushed it in the women’s 100m butterfly to win her fourth gold in three days. Triple Olympic champion Sun Yang powered to his third win of the meet in the 400m freestyle as he equalled Xu Yanwei’s Chinese record of eight Asian Games golds. “I’ve swum six races in three days but I hung in there. It’s a nice reward for all the hard work,” said Sun.