Chinese representatives Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan dominated the first synchronized swimming event after winning gold at the Incheon Asian Games on Oct. 18, Saturday, held at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center.
Huang and Sun started their training together for the competition at the beginning of the year. Since the retirement of twin sisters Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting in 2013, they have been working hard for the gold to continue China's dominance in the said sport.
The duo have been friends since being part of the national youth team.
In the morning of the competition, the Chinese duo led in the categories of execution, artistic impression and difficulty. They led with 91.1851 points, shadowing Japanese pair Yukiko Inui and Risako Mitsui in the second. The Japanese pair also started training together since January this year.
China's sychronized swimmers continued dominating, gaining 94 points after performing to the music "The Butterfly Lovers," a violin concerto about a Chinese folk story, in the afternoon. According to Huang, they want to show a more artistic impression on the second half of the competition.
"We are also quite good in slow movements. And this well-known story of Butterfly Lover is easier to bring out our artistic performance," Huang added.
With a total score of 185.1851 points, Huang and Sun won the gold medal for the sychronized swimming competition of the 17th Asian Games. The pair from Japan won the silver medal, while Kazakhstani twin sisters Yekaterina and Alexandra Nemich took home the bronze medal.