(MENAFN- Arab Times) INCHEON South Korea Sept 20 (Agencies): Hosts South Korea were the Asian Games' surprise first-day medal leaders on Saturday but they had to share the limelight with China and record-breaking North Korea. North Korean pocket rocket Om Yun Chol broke his own weightlifting world record at the Asian Games while hosts South Korea matched powerhouse China's gold medal haul with five on the first day of competition. Less than 24 hours after a vibrant opening ceremony marked the launch of the 17th Asiad Om hoisted more than three times his own bodyweight with a superhuman lift of 170kg in the clean and jerk. Standing just 1.52m tall (5ft) and weighing 56kg (123lbs) Om's mighty lift came near the end of a day in which 18 gold medals were split between eight countries. China's Zhang Mengyuan won two gold medals in the women's 10 meters air pistol event and in the team event. Some 9500 athletes from 45 countries are competing at the Games the world's second-biggest multi-sport event after the summer Olympics with 439 gold medals in 36 sports up for grabs. And while there are 14 more days of competition to go it is hard to imagine a gold medal being celebrated with such joyous abandon as Om displayed at the Moonlight Festival garden venue. The London Olympic champion let out a roar of triumph raced to celebrate with his coach did a lap of honour draped in the North Korean flag then posed on the podium with a razor-sharp salute as the national anthem played in his honour. The scene would not have pleased the conservative groups who had demanded Incheon organizers take down North Korean flags flying around the city in the lead-up to the Games but the crowd's reaction to Om's win was one of delight not distrust. Tensions between North and South Korea are high and the two states are still technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce not a peace treaty. 'I am very happy' the 22-year-old Om told reporters. 'Whenever our people face difficulty we come together and make it through the rough time.' South Korean fans also had good reason to cheer their own athletes as they took five gold medals in wushu fencing cycling and equestrian. Lee Ha-sung picked up the hosts' first gold in the men's wushu changquan and his coach Park Chan-dae said Lee had accomplished something he never could. 'He has achieved my dream for me' said Park. 'Although I won gold six times in the Wushu World Championships I only got a silver medal at the Asian Games.' Lee's combination of whirling kicks athletic leaps and intricate hand movements earned him a score of 9.71 points to take gold in the martial arts discipline ahead of Macau's Jia Rui (9.69) and Japan's Daisuke Ichikizaki (9.67). South Korean equestrian Kim Kyun-sub won a gold medal in the dressage team event and paid tribute to his late uncle who died in a horror fall at the Asian Games in Doha eight years ago. Kim Hyung-chil was crushed when his horse threw him over a fence then landed on him during the eventing competition in Qatar. 'My uncle taught me a lot' Kim said on Saturday after his ride on Dark Secret. 'Whenever I perform in the field I am reminded of my uncle teaching me and demanding many things. I also thought a lot about him while performing.' India perennial underachievers at the Asian and Olympic Games already have a gold medal to crow about after Jitu Rai won the men's 50m pistol event. While his closest opponent Vietnam's Nguyen Hoang Phuong cracked under pressure Rai kept a cool head and a steady hand to shoot straight and take the title. There were two golds apiece for Mongolia and Kazakhstan while Japan who are determined to beat fierce rivals South Korea to second place in the medal standings behind China could manage only one in judo. The Japanese will hope Ryosuke Irie makes a splash on Sunday when the highly-anticipated swimming competition begins at Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center. Irie will be the one to beat in the men's 100m backstroke while fans will also get to see the first instalment of local hero's Park Tae-hwan's freestyle duels with fellow Olympic champion Sun Yang of China. Olympic boss Thomas Bach Saturday said future Games hosts would have to prove their 'sustainability' and that there would be a shake-up of the bidding criteria. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) president made the comments to Olympic Council of Asia delegates in Incheon which has gone into debt to host the ongoing Asian Games. The German official said the IOC has to 'act now' to preserve its 'relevance' suggesting cities who pitch for international sports events need to think about the long-term impact. 'There is broad agreement that we need changes in the bidding and candidature procedure for the Olympic Games' Bach told the OCA general assembly. 'We need to address the fact that in today's world the Games need to make a greater contribution to sustainability. 'We have to encourage and motivate the candidate cities to take sustainability into account from the very beginning of the bidding procedure' he added. 'So in the future we want to invite potential bidding cities to tell us how they see the Olympic Games fitting into their social economical ecological and sports environment.' Bach's address came on the sidelines of the 17th Asian Games which have cost nearly $2 billion and made Incheon South Korea's most indebted city. Vietnam withdrew from holding the next Asian Games because of the cost. China's Guangzhou was reportedly left with heavy debts after it staged the Games four years ago. Bach said recent Asian and Olympic Games have been successful but warned national Olympic committees against complacency. 'If you don't change at the moment when you are successful the day will come when you will face problems or a crisis' he said. 'Sport has become too important in society to isolate itself from the society around sport. We are too important to ignore what is happening in society. 'If the world around you is making progress and going forward you can't just stand still. If you stand still you lose relevance... we have to act now.' Bach who has just completed a year as IOC president also said the Olympics 'can enjoy a greater diversity' of disciplines than they do now. 'We have to become more flexible when it comes to the composition of the Olympic programme' he said adding that the body must try to 'react faster' to sporting trends amongst youngsters. The comments will give hope to fans of softball and baseball which was last played at the Games in 2008. They have been replaced by golf and rugby sevens for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Pressure is growing for the IOC to reinstate baseball at the 2020 Tokyo Games due to its popularity in Japan. Speaking to reporters after his address Bach refused to be drawn on whether he wanted to see baseball return. 'We have to discuss the procedures first how we can make the composition of the agenda more flexible' he said referring to a special IOC meeting scheduled for later in the year. 'We'll wait for the vote in December. Then we can talk about individual sports and disciplines.'
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