The Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya close on Sunday, bringing the curtain down on a fortnight of competition featuring some record-breaking performances. Among the best performers were the two athletes named Asian Games MVPs: 13-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi and Thai track and field sprinter Boonson Puripol. Yu, who won all three of her individual events with ease, said “I’m no prodigy” after being named the women’s MVP on Sunday. The schoolgirl, who looks poised to take the Los Angeles 2028...

What was meant to be a few glorious moments could spark policy reform in South Korea after post-match comments from a couple of gold-medal-winning footballers triggered heated debate. South Korea beat hosts Japan 1-0 at the Toyota Stadium to win their fourth straight – and seventh overall – men’s football title at the Asian Games, leading to 20 of the 23-strong squad earning exemptions from military service. While the exemption was not an exclusive perk for the country’s footballers but for all...

When Cado Lee Ka-to carried Hong Kong’s flag into the Paloma Mizuho Stadium on Sunday, he did so at the head of what remained of the most successful Asian Games delegation in the city’s history. While only a handful of the 580 athletes who made up the team attended the closing ceremony, their impact will be felt far beyond the past fortnight, although it may be in what wasn’t achieved that a lasting legacy is created. At first glance, an overall medal count of 54, only one more than the previous...

There has been a common theme running through Hong Kong’s Asian Games gold medallists when it comes to talking about the pressure of being on top: Siobhan Haughey and James Christie both referred to it as a privilege, and it would not be a surprise to discover it is an entirely alien concept to Coleman Wong Chak-lam. Before Saturday, Hong Kong had never won a medal in men’s tennis at the Games, let alone gold. Faced with making history, adding another title to the city’s growing collection and...