JAKARTA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing Asian Games were hit by scandal on Monday as four Japanese basketball players have been sent back home for buying sex in Jakarta.
Yasuhiro Yamashita, chief of the Japanese delegation, told a press conference Monday that the four players have been expelled from the Japanese national team and sent back to Japan.
He apologized for the players' misconduct and said that it violated the national team's code of conduct while betraying the expectations of the Japanese citizens.
The four players, Yuya Nagayoshi, 27, Takuya Hashimoto, 23, Takuma Sato, 23, and Keita Imamura, 22, reportedly went to a Japanese restaurant in Jakarta to have dinner following their team's victory on Aug. 16, wearing their team uniforms.
They left the restaurant after dinner and were approached by a tout on the street who introduced them to some women. They brought the women to a hotel where they conducted "inappropriate acts" and returned to the Athletes' Village the following morning.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), said that the OCA was satisfied with the Japanese Olympic Committee's handling of the misconduct and called upon all athletes to remember their social responsibilities as they represent the image of their countries and regions.
On the second matchday of the 2018 Asian Games, China, who topped the medal table in the past nine editions of the quadrennial event, was still a runaway leader as its ace swimmers and shooters inspired a gold medal haul.
Triple Olympic champion Sun Yang was the star to watch in pool as he enjoyed a comfortable victory in the men's 800 meters freestyle in a Game record time and scored his second title in Jakarta.
Sun, who just completed a Golden Grand Slam of Olympic, world and Asian titles in the 200, 400 and 1,500m freestyle on Sunday, stayed second after first 300 meters and took the lead since then. Sun touched the wall in a time of seven minutes 48.36 seconds.
Sun's teammate Xu Jiayu claimed his second title in men's 50m backstroke in 24.75 while Wang Shun won the men's 200m individual medley in 1:56.52.
China met with strong challenge from Japan in pool as its swimmers grabbed the remaining four golds. After two days of competitions, China and Japan wrapped up all 14 golds, tying with each other at 7-7.
China's shooters were also on fire on the same matchday as they pocketed three out of the four gold medals on offer.
Rifle shooters Yang Haoran and Zhao Ruozhu, who teamed up to win silver in the 10m rifle mixed team event, each won one gold in the individual competitions.
Yang finished the men's 10m air rifle qualification with 632.9 points, just 0.6 points shy of the world record set by Hungarian shooter Peter Sidi in 2013.
The Youth Olympics gold medalist maintained his good form in the final, finding himself in first place after 10 shots.
In the knockout stage, Lu Shaochuan from Chinese Taipei moved into first place after the 15th shot, but Yang managed to come back with two 10.8 shots to take gold with 249.1 points.
"I'm happy with the Asiad gold and it's an honor to be here to compete for my country," said Yang.
The 20-year-old world-record holder Zhao Ruozhu dominated the women's 10m air rifle. She scored 631.9 points in the qualifying round and then seized her chance to win the final with 250.9 points.
In the women's trap event, Zhang Xinqiu hit 45 targets in the final round to win the gold.
In gymnastics, China dominated the men's individual all-around final, bringing home a gold and a bronze medal.
Lin Chaopan took the gold medal with 86.750 points, followed by Japan's Shogo Nonomura with 85.950 points. Another Chinese gold medal hopeful Xiao Ruoteng finished third in his Asian Games debut with 85.550 points.
China now leads the medal table with 15 golds, followed by Japan with 8 golds and South Korea with five.
