National sprinter Mohd Azeem Fahmi’s hopes of adding to his Asian Games medal tally were dashed when an injury forced him out of the men’s 100m final at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. Azeem, who secured a bronze medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, began to slow visibly with the race barely underway and crossed the finish line in last place with a time of 14.65 seconds before collapsing on the track. Medical personnel quickly attended to him and removed him on a stretcher.

The men’s 100m gold went to Thailand’s Puripol Boonson, who delivered a remarkable performance by setting a new Games record of 9.90 seconds. Boonson had already broken the previous record earlier that day, lowering it to 9.91 seconds in the semi-finals. Oman celebrated a strong showing as well, with Ali Balushi taking silver in 10.04 seconds and Malham Balushi earning bronze in 10.11 seconds.

In the women’s 100m final, 17-year-old Chen Yujie from China captured gold in 11.06 seconds, shattering the longstanding Games record of 11.15 seconds set by Sri Lanka’s Susanthika Jayasinghe in 2002. Singapore’s Veronica Shanti Pereira repeated her silver medal finish from Hangzhou by clocking 11.21 seconds, while Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong took bronze in 11.33 seconds.

The athletics program also saw early exits for Malaysia’s 400m runners. Umar Osman, running from lane seven in the second heat, finished sixth with a time of 46.91 seconds, unable to keep pace with the leaders. Meanwhile, Shereen Samson Vallabouy, who earned a bronze medal at Hangzhou 2022, started strongly in the third heat of the women’s 400m but faded in the final stretch to place fourth in 54.03 seconds, missing qualification for the final.

Overall, while some athletes set new benchmarks, others faced significant setbacks, underscoring the unpredictability of competition at the Asian Games.