The last night in the pool at Guangzhou was supposed to belong to South Korean pin-up Park, who had effortlessly swept the 100, 200 and 400 meters freestyle titles at the six-day competition.

But it was unheralded Sun who rose first from the water to rip off his goggles and break down in tears when his time of 14 minutes 35:43 seconds sunk in amid thunderous cheers.

"At the time I touched the wall, I did not know the result. I was kind of dizzy," said the towering 18-year-old from eastern Zhejiang province, whose time was just shy of retired Australian great Grant Hackett's world mark of 14:34.56 set in 2001.

"Today's success was a big result for me." Park, who dyed his hair red in Guangzhou and resembled a heat-seeking missile for much of the competition, took silver for his seventh medal, a repeat of his Doha effort four years ago.

Sun's achievement glossed over a dramatic disqualification for China's 4X100 meters medley relay team, who piped Japan's swimmers to the wall but had their gold medals stripped after it emerged one of their swimmers Wang Shuai had taken off early.

The medley team's anguish should do little to dampen China's joy at their bumper 24-gold medal haul at the pool where their claim to top dog status was never contested by a disappointing campaign by Japan.

"We've done our job and it was better than expected. I am very happy the Chinese team has beaten the Japanese team," China coach Yao Zhengjie said.

"The Japanese team was not performing like they usually do and we will find out why." Japan slugged it out toe-to-toe at the 2006 Doha Games to match China's 16 golds, but finished with nine in Guangzhou, with Ryosuke Irie's two individual backstroke titles the standout.

An out-of-sorts Kosuke Kitajima finished his Games without a medal, the quadruple Olympic champion helping the medley relay team reach the final before announcing he was taking a break from competition.

China's swimmers helped the hosts smash through the 100-gold medal mark, which was a welcome diversion from the political storm that burst at the taekwondo tournament on Wednesday after the disqualification of a Taiwanese former Asian champion.

The controversy over Yang Shu-chun's mid-bout ban for carrying unauthorized sensors in her foot guards rumbled on Thursday when a spokesperson from Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou's office said his citizens could not accept the decision.

"The president is asking the cabinet and the sports commission to stick up for her rights," spokesperson Lo Chih-chiang said.

A Taiwan taekwondo coach said their fighters were too nervous to compete with gusto for fear of incurring referee sanctions.

"We become very nervous whenever the referee moves, wondering what might happen next," coach Liu Tsung-ta said.

South Korea's shooters took another four golds to propel the delegation's gold medal count to 37, second behind China's 109. Japan were third on 21.

South Korea's Han Jinseop dedicated his gold in the men's 50m rifle 3 Positions discipline to his father, who died of a stroke seven years ago.

"My father told me never to accept any position but the first," he said. "I've been missing him so much and I've been thinking of him every single day." Police in Guangzhou put their own hands up for a medal when they announced they had smashed a ticket scalping syndicate and arrested 196 people in a security clampdown since Saturday, though events struggled to draw crowds to "sold-out" stadiums in the opening days.

One major drawcard unlikely to bore ticket-holders into not turning up slipped quietly into Guangzhou on Thursday but steered well clear of the athletes' village.

Former Olympic 110 meters champion Liu Xiang has been a shadow of his former world-beating self since he limped out of the Bird's Nest stadium at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Liu still holds on to his Asian title from Doha, however, and expectations have been building for a watershed moment when he takes to the track for the heats on Monday.

Hosing down expectations has become a regular chore for the injury-plagued 27-year-old, and he was at it again at a secluded training session outside the city.

"I not aiming for a very good result. I am just looking for a solid performance," he told state television.

Meanwhile, two silvers came India's way in rowing and a bronze in shooting at the Asian Games on Thursday, while two medals were in sight in golf and one in boxing. Badminton medal hope Saina Nehwal crashed out of the women's singles while tennis star Sania Mirza advanced.

Nehwal went down to Hong Kong's Pui Yin Yip 8-21, 21-8, 19-21 in a hard-fought match that stretched late into the night.

Pankaj Advani scraped through 4-3 against Nisar Ahmed Safuddin of Qatar while Aditya scored an easy win over Lebanese Mazen Berjaoui 4-0 to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the men's snooker singles. Rowers Anil Kumar, Saji Thomas, Ranjit Singh and Jenil Krishnan won a silver in the men's four event with an overall timing of 6 mins 16.79 seconds - 10.39secs behind the gold medalist Chinese quartet of Sun Zhaowen, Wu Lin, Li Dongjian and Liu Kun.

Shooter Vijay Kumar, who won three golds at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, settled for a bronze in the men's 25m center fire pistol event, with South Korea's Byung Taek Park notching up the gold and China's Yadong Liu the silver.

Rashid Khan's brilliant four-under 68, which also equaled the best round on the second day at the Asian Games golf at the Dragon Lake golf course, saw India leap into medal contention in both the men's individual and team events.

The wiry 19-year-old Khan, a former multiple Faldo Series Asia winner, who delayed his plans to turn professional to play the Asian Games, shot a 68 and was at third place at five-under 139. Put alongside his first round 71, he was five-under for 36 holes and well in sight of a medal.

The Indian golfing team moved up to third, just one shot behind the Philippines. Korea is way ahead at 14-under (418) while Philippines is at three-over (435). India is four-over (436). The best three scores out of four are counted each day.

Boxer Paramjeet Samota assured himself of a medal as he moved into the semifinal with a 9-4 win over South Korea's Sungkeun Park in the men's +91kg quarterfinals.

Samota won the first round 5-2 and came down heavily on Park in the second round, where he won four points while the South Korean bagged just two World No. 25 Saurav Ghoshal, India's highest ranked squash player, scored a comfortable 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 win over Ammar Altemimi of Kuwait and next plays compatriot Siddharth Suchde for a place in the last eight Friday. Sania Mirza powered into the women's singles second round while it was curtains for Poojashree Venkatesha at the Asian Games here Thursday.

Sania, ranked 166, outclassed Wing Yau Venise Chan of Hong Kong 6-1, 6-0 in 50 minutes and next faces 91-ranked Shuai Zhang of China, who is seeded sixth.

Shuai had defeated Sania in the quarterfinals of the Guangzhou Open in September.