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Asian Games 2014 - Incheon
SportOther Sport

Sun Yang and Park Tae-hwan set to renew fierce rivalry in the pool

Chinese Olympic champion mocks South Korean foe in a series of television commercials as they both look to dominate the swimming

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China's Sun Yang warms down after training at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Centre in Incheon. Photo: Xinhua

What promises to be a dramatic showdown between China's Olympic gold champion Sun Yang and his chief rival, Park Tae-hwan, of South Korea, is heating up the Asian Games swimming programme.

It is the biggest rivalry in Asian swimming, possibly one of the biggest of the Games, and some taunting from Sun has likely intensified the competition.

Mr Park, you're the Korean people's hero. You have countless fans. Even this swimming competition's aquatic centre bears your name. But Mr Park, so what?
Sun Yang

The 22-year-old Sun brings the 200 metres, 400m and 1,500m freestyle world titles he won last year to Incheon, along with the two golds, a silver and a bronze he won at the 2012 London Olympics, where he became the first Chinese man to win an individual Olympic swimming gold.

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Sun also holds the world record in the 1,500m and won the event at the Asian Games four years ago in Guangzhou, China, where Park won gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle finals.

Park also swept the golds in the three events at Doha 1996.

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Park Tae-hwan completes training at the Incheon aquatic centre named after him in Incheon. Photo: Xinhua
Park Tae-hwan completes training at the Incheon aquatic centre named after him in Incheon. Photo: Xinhua

To top it off, he will be swimming in a pool named in his honour at Incheon, west of Seoul.

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