The highly symbolic all-Korean team, competing together after a rapid improvement in cross-border relations, came in behind China and hosts Indonesia in the women’s 200 metres race.

The athletes were in tears afterwards as they sung “Arirang”, a traditional Korean folk song, to celebrate winning their medal.

“I was deeply emotional,” said South Korean canoeist Eun Jeong-byun. “We’re divided and forbidden from seeing each other but we both know the same song and speak the same language.

“By singing that song, we felt we were one nation — yet we aren’t able to see each other.”

The two Koreas have also joined forces in rowing at the regional Olympics as well as women’s basketball, in which they lie second in their group after three wins out of four.

The North Korean athletes hardly knew what dragon boating, a traditional form of canoeing, was until the team came together 20 days ago.

“I was initially worried about there being a barrier between us (the two coaches),” said South Korean coach Yeong Kang-geun.

“But the North Korean coach told me I could do whatever I wanted and he would cooperate because he didn’t know much about dragon boating.

“That happened on the first day, within five minutes, so we became close very quickly.”

At last week’s opening ceremony, the Korean teams marched together behind the Unified Korea flag, held aloft jointly by South Korean women’s basketball player Lim Yung-hui and North Korean footballer Ju Kyong Chol.

The two Koreas had paraded together and formed a joint women’s ice hockey team at February’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, setting the scene for an unprecedented warming of ties.

The Thai pair had to bear with noisy cheers from the home fans as they had to be content with the silver medal, the only medal from the Thai tennis team in the Asiad.

“It was a very close match. Rungkat just took some risks in the end and it paid off. We already tried our best,” said Sonchat who also won the mixed doubles bronze with Tamarine Tanasugarn four years ago.

Luksika whose right eye was hit by a bouncing ball during the second set said her eye has swollen slightly but there is nothing to worry.

“I think it will go away in a few days. Right now I have to be ready for the US OPen next week,” said the Thai No 1 player.

Attapon Kunsa

Earlier, Thailand won two golds from sepak takraw men’s team doubles and jet-ski roundabout 110 stock by Attapon Kunsa.

Apart from tennis, Thailand’s other silver medals on Saturday came from jetski modified by Kasidit Teeraprateep and women’s BMX by Chutikan Kitwanitsathian  .

After winning no events on Friday, Thai athletes started the second week in Jakarta in style when 45-year-old Phadit Buree from Maha Sarakham reigned supreme in jetski roundabout 110 stock with countryman Attapon Kunsa coming second.

Phadit Buree

In Palembang, Thailand beat Laos 2-0 in the men’s sepak takraw team doubles final for the third gold medal from sepak takraw after the men’s and women’s regu teams.

Thailand also won a silver in women’s BMX by Chutikan Kitwanitsathian after timing 40.37 seconds behind winner Zhang Yaru of China (39.64 secs) at the Pulo Mas International BMX Center.

Thailand have won eight gold medals ( sepak takraw 3, taekwondo 2, paragliding 2, jetski 1) in the 18^th Asiad which will end next Sunday.

The Olympic Council of Asia complained to Indonesian organisers over the number of vacant seats at venues, instructing them to reduce the number of places reserved for officials after VIP allocations reached as high as 40 percent in some arenas.

“This is causing a great deal of confusion and does not look good on the broadcasting when there are empty seats,” the OCA said in a letter to the organising committee.

Hundreds of people have been left queueing for hours in the heat for Asian Games tickets, while fans have lashed out after difficulties booking tickets online.

Organisers switched to new e-commerce company Blibli on the eve of the games after its original online vendor’s server broke down.

Francis Wanandi, deputy head of Games organising committee INASGOC, told reporters two additional sites would now be selling tickets after complaints that tickets were still not accessible online.

But each would have its own allotted quota, meaning buyers may need to visit all three in some cases, he said.

Some tickets which appeared to be sold out on the new vendors’ sites would become available after being transferred from the old server in “one or two days”.

“There were some glitches in our system, therefore we made some corrections,” he said.

“Because of logistics issues, the new vendors have only been appointed, they need to prepare things.”

The move to e-ticketing would also help to tackle the problem of ticket touts, but no laws exist to ban scalping altogether, Wanandi said.

“The authorities have warned them not to be at the locations, but there are no laws which can imprison them,” he said.

“But we try to prevent them from making a transaction in the venues. So we try to minimise them.”

The Asian Games opened last Saturday, although the first events began August 10. The regional Olympics, being hosted in Jakarta and Palembang, will close September 2.

Competing for elbow room on the final evening, China’s colossus Sun Yang crushed the men’s 1,500m to finish with a fab four individual freestyle titles in Jakarta.

Japan and China finished with 19 swimming gold medals each after a titanic struggle over six days, with the Japanese shading the overall medal count by 52 to 50.

But Ikee stole the show by edging the 50m freestyle sprint by a fingertip from China’s Liu Xiang, clocking 24.53 seconds to become the first woman in any sport to scoop six gold medals at a single Games.

The 18-year-old allowed herself a rare display of emotion, raising a fist as she soaked up the applause of her besotted Japanese fans before shedding a few tears as the enormity of her achievement sank in.

“I really hate losing, I probably won that more through sheer willpower,” said Ikee, who had already snaffled gold in the 50m fly, 100m fly, 100m free, 4x100m free and the 4x100m medley.

“The last few minutes hurt but I was just focusing on the touch and luckily I hung on. I used pretty much every last drop of energy.”

Ikee, who is poised to be the face of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in her home city, finished with eight medals in total — also a joint record.

North Korea shooter So Gin Man pocketed seven gold medals and eight overall in 1982.

“I’ve felt physically broken at times here,” confessed Ikee. “But I told myself it’s a state of mind and I was happy to finish strong.

“I’m very proud of that,” she added. “The key will be how to convert this performance into more gold medals at the world championships and the Tokyo Olympics.”

Silver medallist China’s Liu Xiang, gold medallist Japan’s Rikako Ikee and bronze medallist China’s Wu Qingfeng 

– Sun scorcher –

Sun’s fourth gold medal was as close to a banker as it’s possible to get in sport.

The three-time Olympic champion duly won the 1,500m for the third straight Asian Games to add to the 200, 400 and 800m titles he bagged earlier in the week.

But the 26-year-old waited until the 1,300m mark to hit the front to win in a pedestrian time of 14:58.53 — almost half-a-minute outside his own world record.

It mattered little to Sun’s adoring army of cheerleaders, who broke into squeals as their hero climbed from the pool and waved in their direction.

“It’s not easy to dominate an event for three Asian Games,” said the Chinese juggernaut.

“I was exhausted and even thought about pulling out of tonight’s race but I toughed it out,” added Sun.

“I have dreams for the Tokyo Olympics and I know I have to work 200 percent or even 300 percent harder.”

Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki completed an Asian Games breaststroke treble in the 50m final and perhaps ushered Olympic champion Dmitriy Balandin into retirement.

Koseki clocked 27.07 with Kazakhstan’s Balandin, who won the 100m title in Rio, two years ago, taking bronze in 27.46 behind China’s Yan Zibei (27.25).

Frustrated by injury and poor form, Balandin has admitted he may hang up his goggles and left the pool sobbing after the medal ceremony.

Meanwhile, China’s 16-year-old sensation Wang Jianjiahe won the 400m free final in a Games-best 4:03.18 to secure a hat-trick of individual titles.

The Spaniard has put together back-to-back major crowns only at the French Open — where he has won 11 of his 17 Grand Slam titles.

A year ago at Flushing Meadows, he mowed down a men’s field that was missing five of the top-ranked 11 men, with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka among the injured absentees.

His brutally one-sided victory over South African Kevin Anderson in his third Grand Slam final of the year gave him a second major of 2017 — after two years in which he failed to reach a Slam final.

“Last year has been a very special year after a couple of years,” Nadal said Friday. “2015 was not a positive year in terms of level of tennis, 2016 I was playing good tennis but I got injured.

“Had the chance to get back in 2017. Of course I won on clay, but then to win on hard again is something that means a lot to me, especially here in New York.”

This year the men’s field features a full complement of the world’s top-ranked players and seven former US Open champions, but Nadal believes he’s had an ideal build up, starting with a hardcourt Masters title in Toronto.

“That’s important for the feelings, for the confidence,” Nadal said. “That gave me a chance to rest the week after in Cincinnati.”

After scooping his 80th career title — and his 33rd Masters 1000 — the 32-year-old pulled out of Cincinnati to focus on his US Open prep.

“I was resting from competing, not resting from working,” said Nadal, adding that as the tournament draws closer the signs are all encouraging.

“The last couple of days (before the tournament) is the moment to understand, that you really realize if you are better, you are worse — when you start to put the full mind on what you’re doing.”

He’s set to open his campaign on Monday with what promises to be an emotional 31st career encounter with his good friend and Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer, a former world number three who has slipped out of the top 100 and will retire at the end of the year.

The quarter-finals could bring a rematch of last year’s final against fifth-seeded Anderson — who reached the final at Wimbledon this year.

Despite last year’s lopsided victory, Nadal said Anderson would pose a serious threat.

“He’s a player that’s always improving,” Nadal said of Anderson. “He plays so aggressive. He has a huge serve. He’s one of these players that are dangerous for everybody.”

At the halfway stage of the 18th Asian Games, Thailand are still far from their self-proclaimed target of 17 gold medals, having going into this weekend with just six in the first seven days of competition.

Although there are still eight more days for athletes to realise their dreams, finding 11 more Asian Games champions appears mission impossible for the Kingdom’s delegation.

After the women’s team taekwondo poomsae produced a stunning, early gold last Sunday, it’s been a sluggish period for Thai athletes. The lethargy was finally lifted by five more golds inside two days, thanks to the sepak takraw men’s and women’s regu teams, the women’s team accuracy in paragliding, the individual gold in the same sport by Nunnapat Phuchong and the invincible Panipak Wongpattanakit in the women’s taekwondo 49kg.

Banpot Lertthaisong in men’s jujitsu 69kg

The Taekwondo Association and the Royal Aeronautic Sports Association deserve the plaudits for over-achieving, while the Sepak Takraw Association still harbours hope of adding two more triumphs. The Cycling Association, although lacking a gold, were impressive with one silver and three bronzes, while Rowing also deserved credits for producing three bronzes.

However, weightlifting, one of the leading sports in Thailand, has yet to deliver a champion, having contributed two Olympic golds at Rio 2016. So far a silver by Olympic champion Sukanya Srisurat in the women’s 58kg has been their best result.

The association will lose face if they come home without a gold.

But it was the Football Association that has been widely-criticised after the men’s team failed to qualify from the group stage. They reached the semi-final four years ago but this time finished without a win in three games.

Meanwhile, Thailand should win two more golds from the highly-anticipated sepak takraw men team doubles and women’s quadrant. Boxing, golf and sailing are also expected to return one gold each.

Phadit Buree

New disciplines such roller sports, bridge, jetski and jiujitsu may come up with a few victories but gold No 17 appears out of reach and the Kingdom would need a dose of good fortune to accomplish that goal.

On day seven of the games on Friday, Thai athletes could only produce bronze medals from rowing, jujitsu and weightlifting.

Veteran rower Phuttharaksa Negree claimed her eight Asian Games gold after she crossed the line third (7:54.23 minutes) along with partner Matinee Raruen in the women’s lightweight double sculls.

Phuttharaksa Negree and partner Matinee Raruen

The 44-year-old, in her sixth Asian Games since 1998, also set the record as the most medalled rower in Games history, with two silvers and six bronzes.

“I’m glad that I always win a medal every time I compete in the Games. Too bad we didn’t make it to the top three in the quadruple sculls the previous day. However, at 44, I managed to produce my best time ,” said Phuttharaksa who said that 7:54.23 minute she timed in this event was by far her best record in Asiad.

“If I still take a good care of my body and with some help from my coach, I hope to make it to one more Asian Games.”

Thailand’s men’s quadruple sculls team

The other rowing bronze came from the men’s quadruple sculls.

In weightlifting, Rattanawan Wamalun had to settle for third with a lift of 225kg in the 63kg division. North Koreans Kim Hyo Sim and Choe Hyo Sim seized the top two spots with 250 and 238kg.

Rattanawan Wamalun 

Another bronze medal came from Banpot Lertthaisong in men’s jujitsu 69kg.

In sepak takraw, the Thai men’s doubles team beat Japan 2-0 to set up a final against Laos on Saturday.

In tennis mixed doubles semi-final, Sonchat Ratiwatana and Luksika Kumkhum reached the final after they beat Kazakhs Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Anna Danilina 4-6 6-4 12-10.

The 19-year-old prodigy joined a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard at Wascana Country Club in Regina after carding nine birdies and one bogey in a superb opening round.

Hataoka capped her strong start after nailing a birdie on her 18th hole to move alongside Ariya and Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe at eight under.

All three members of the leading group equalled the course record at Wascana.

World number two Ariya, who bagged the second major of her career with victory at the US Women’s Open in June, drained nine birdies and only one bogey for her 64.

Nasa Hataoka of Japan 

Uribe, ranked 173rd in the world, produced a flawless round with eight birdies and 10 pars.

Ariya made a dream start after teeing off on the 10th, reeling off four consecutive birdies to drop to four under early on.

She dropped a shot on her seventh hole of the day but then unleashed another birdie blitz on her inward nine, with five more birdies to finish on eight under.

The 22-year-old from Bangkok credited a relaxed approach for her low-scoring round.

“I feel I’ve been playing pretty good for the last few weeks and I didn’t finish the way that I wanted,” Ariya said.

“Today my goal is just like don’t worry about the future too much. Don’t think about what I’m going to shoot today. Just try to focus on things I can control.”

Uribe meanwhile said she had been determined to exploit benign weather conditions which are expected to give way to strong winds in Friday’s second round.

“I took advantage of that good weather we had this morning,” Uribe said. “No wind; a little cold, but nothing crazy.

“It’s nice to get it done and actually take advantage of the great weather we had, because tomorrow seems like it’s going to be windy.”

Hataoka, Ariya and Uribe were one stroke clear of Angel Yin of the United States and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen, who both shot 65.

Behind Yin and Madsen lurked a menacing chasing pack of seven players on six under, including Canadian youngster Brooke Henderson, former world number one Lydia Ko and Australia’s Minjee Lee.