[Asian Games] Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan picks up silver

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan picked up the silver medal in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the Asian Games on Thursday.

   Park touched in 48.75 seconds to rank behind Ning Zetao of China. Shinri Shioura of Japan took the bronze.

   Ning set an Asian record with 47.70 seconds to win his third gold medal in Incheon. Shioura finished in 48.85.

   Park earlier won bronze medals in the 200ｍ and 400ｍ freestyle as well as 4x200ｍ and 4x100ｍ relays. 

   Park had the second-fastest reaction time off the blocks in 0.65 seconds, but at the halfway mark, he was only in fourth place in 23.76 seconds. Ning was in the clear at 23.02, and Shioura was in second at 23.52 while Yu Hexin of China was also ahead of Park at 23.66 seconds.

   Park then made a big push over the final stretch to overtake two swimmers for his first silver medal in Incheon.

   Park covered his final 50ｍ in 24.99 seconds, and only Ning was faster in that stretch among the eight finalists with 24.68 seconds.

   Park picked up his 19th Asiad medal to pull into a tie with a former shooter, Park Byung-taek, for most Asian Games medals by a South Korean athlete.

   Park will have two more cracks at medals on Friday in the 1,500ｍ freestyle and in the 4x100ｍ relay.

   "I guess I've been around long enough to win so many medals," said the smiling Park, who is in his third Asiad. "I will try my best to bring home more medals in the remaining events."

   He said the 100ｍ freestyle final was the first time he felt fine physically at this Asiad.

   "I'd be lying if I didn't have any regrets, because you're always bound to have some no matter how well you do," he said. "But I am happy that I posted a better time than the heat (when I finished in 49.76 seconds)."

   Park said he felt he could have caught up to Ning if he had a few more meters.

   "He was more powerful than he looked," Park said of the Chinese champion. "It wasn't as easy to pass him as I had thought earlier."

   The world record in the 100ｍ final is 46.91 seconds, set by Cesar Cielo of Brazil in 2009. Ning broke his own Asian record by 0.57 second here, and Park said it was encouraging to see an Asian swimmer break the 48-second barrier.

   "It's an honor to stand on the podium with Ning and Shioura," Park said. "This was a great experience for me."

   South Korea picked up two more medals from the pool on Thursday. The women's 4x100ｍ medley relay team set a national record to win the silver medal behind Japan. Lee Da-lin, Yang Ji-won, An Se-hyeon and Ko Mi-so finished the race in 4:04.82, 3.88 seconds behind the gold medal team.

   Earlier, Yang Jung-doo got the bronze in the men's 50ｍ butterfly at 23.79 seconds. (Yonhap)