Japan became the biggest winners Monday night with four golds to their names but Syria shone all the same with their second swimming gold in the Asian Games history.

China also opened the winning account as Zhao Jing pulled off the women's 50m backstroke win and Yang Jieqiao triumphed in the women's 400m freestyle.

Rafd Zyad Almasri claimed the first gold in the men's 50m freestyle and became the second Syrian swimmer to win an Asian Games gold.

Almasri, 24, clocked a time of 22.41 seconds to triumph over Japanese Makoto Ito who finished second in 22.77.

Almasri said he lives in Germany with his family and trains there.

"I was born in Berlin as my family moved to Germany 40 years ago, but we still have close contact with Syria," he said after the victory in his first ever Asian Games trip.

Asian record holder Zhao won the opening event of the night in 28.69 and her Chinese teammate Gao Chang, world championships runner-up, finished second in 28.88.

Reiko Nakamura of Japan, reigning Doha 200m backstroke winner, was third in 28.89.

Yang, a long-distance expert, clocked a winning time of 4:12:75 to win her first ever Asian Games glory after pulling off the 800m and 1,500m freestyle titles in the East Asian Games last year.

Her fellow Chinese Zhu Wenrui, 16, took the silver to give China a one-two finish in 4:14:45. Lee Ji Eun of South Korea took the bronze in 4:14:95.

The 16-year-old Yang said she was not satisfied with her result despite of the gold.

"I didnot improve my result, so I am disappointed. I think I need stiffer competition to give me a boost in form," she said.

Ai Shibata, the gold medalist in 800m free in the Athens Olympic Games, was missing from the Japanese roster for the Asian Games.

Chinese head coach Zhang Yadong said he was satisfied with the youngsters but there is a pity in losing the men's 200m backstroke and the relay event.

"The two young girls did a great job tonight as they fended off fierce competition to win," he said.

"But we narrowly missed the men's 200m back and 4x200m free relay, which is a pity," he said.

Japan bagged the men's 200m backstroke title for the first time in 20 years when teenager Ryosuke Irie prevailed, pushing Asian champion Ouyang Kungpeng to the second place.

"I think my result is OK. My plan was to keep an eye on Nakano but failed to notice that our little friend rushed to the front," said the 24-year-old Ouyang who took the silver in 1:59.15 behind the 16-year-old Irie in 1:58.85.

Japanese Asian record holder Takashi Nakano came third, 0.49 seconds adrift of the winner.

In the men's 4x200m free relay, Japan overcame strong surge from the Chinese anchor man Zhang Lin to lift their 14th consecutive title at the Asian Games.

Japan, dominating the event for the past 52 years, edged to the victory in seven minutes 14.86 seconds while China, runners-up for the third time running, saw Zhang, runner-up in 200m free, inched close to leading but still fall behind by 0.27 seconds.

South Korea again settled for third in 7:23.61 as they did in the last two Games.

Double Athens Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his 100m breaststroke title and revenged himself when he won in 1:01.13, but the result is a far cry from his own Asian record of 59.53 set in last year's World Championships.

Makoto Yamashita brought Japan a silver in 1:01.50 while Vladislav Polyakov of Kazakhstan took the bronze in 1:01.63. Kitajima was beaten to second place by Polyakov on Sunday in the 50m breaststroke.

Yurie Yano, eighth-place finisher in last year's World Championships, came from behind to clinch the women's 200m butterfly title in 2:09.08.

South Korean Choi Hye Ra, 15, took the silver by 0.56 seconds and the bronze medal went to defending champion Yuko Nakanishi in 2:09.75, who holds the Asian record of 2:06.52.

Source: Xinhua