Rio Olympic bronze medallist Takuya Haneda has successfully defended his Asian Games C1 canoe slalom title and teammate Aki Yazawi took the women’s K1 title in a golden double for Japan in West Java on Wednesday.
31-year-old Haneda reversed the semi-final result to hold out China’s Fangjia Chen by just 0.52 seconds, with Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Kulikov finishing 8.43 seconds back in the bronze medal position.
The top three athletes all posted clean runs.
Haneda made history in Rio in 2016 when he became the first Asian athlete to win a canoe slalom medal. It was his third Olympic Games, after he finished 14th at the 2008 Beijing Games and seventh in London in 2012.
He won C1 gold at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Aki Yazawa dominated the final of the women’s K1 to defeat China’s 2014 Asian Games champion, Li Tong, by more than four seconds.
Yazawa posted a clean time of 95.83, with Tong posting 100.17. Taipei’s Chuhan Chang in 103.80 took the bronze medal.
26-year-old Yazawa competed in the Rio 2016 Olympics, finishing 20th.
The men’s K1 and the women’s C1 finals will be contested on Thursday.
