China won two more table tennis gold medals at the Asian Games on Saturday, pushing their overall tally to 151 for the multi-sports event, while hosts South Korea finished runners-up for a fifth straight Games ahead of Japan in third.
The South Koreans earned 79 golds in total, 11 shy of their pre-Games target, while Japan ended on 47 and were some way short of displacing the hosts as the next best in Asia.
A strong performance in boxing and canoeing helped Kazakhstan to fourth place (28 golds) ahead of Iran (21) and Thailand (12).
North Korea, whose participation in the 17th Asiad was in doubt just a few months before the opening ceremony, finished in seventh place with 11 gold medals, their best performance since finishing fourth in 1990 with 12 golds.
The backbone of the North’s success was their impressive weightlifters, who won four golds and broke five world records. On the final day of competition, Xu Xin won men’s singles gold and compatriot Liu Shiwen the women’s crown as China scooped six of the seven table tennis titles at the Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 Games.
North Korea’s mixed doubles team put paid to their chances of a clean sweep by beating them in the quarter-finals earlier in the week.