Local hero Park finds form in Asian Games swim heats

South Korea's Park Tae-hwan finally discovered his stroke in the Asian Games 100 metres freestyle on Thursday, topping the qualifying times after two heart-breaking losses in the 200m and 400m.

The former Olympic champion, who took bronze behind China's Sun Yang and Japan's Kosuke Hagino in those events, clocked 49.76 seconds -- 0.44 seconds faster than the Japanese Rammaru Harada with Ning Zetao of China third quickest.
"I'm just trying to stay calm," Park told reporters after admitting the pressure had got to him swimming at a pool named after him. "I'm trying not to think about the expectations."
Powerhouse China, who have hit back in style after Japan's hot start to lead 15-8 in gold medals after four days of the six-day competition, suffered a blip when their women's 4x100m medley relay team were disqualified, sparking squeals of joy from the Japanese quartet.
"The girls allowed themselves a little pump of the fist," Japanese coach Yoshiaki Takemura told AFP following the decision to throw out the Chinese after lead-off swimmer Wang Xueer failed to surface before the 15-metre mark.
"We caught a break there. We've been getting whacked a bit over the last few days."
China's Xu Jiayu topped the time-sheets in the men's 200m backstroke in 1:58.50, touching out Japanese rival Ryosuke Irie, who has already won the 100m gold and taken silver in the 50m.
Marathon man Hagino, who has won four golds and six medals in total for Japan in these Games, qualified fourth fastest.
The 20-year-old, who stunned Sun and Park to win the 200m freestyle and did the double in his signature medley events, is not scheduled to swim on the final day, Japanese swim officials told AFP.
With four golds and his chances in Thursday's backstroke outside at best, Hagino is unlikely to match Yoshimi Nishigawa's haul of five swim golds at the 1970 and 1974 Asian Games.
Joseph Schooling, who became the first male swimmer from Singapore to win Asian Games gold since 1982 in Wednesday's 100m butterfly, was third fastest in the 50m heats behind China's Shi Yang and Yang Jung-Doo of South Korea.
China have dominated the Asian Games swimming in recent years, winning 24 of the 38 golds at Guangzhou in 2010, but Japan have proved tougher nut to crack this time.
Source: AFP