The fierce rivalries took center stage as North and South Korea clashed on the football pitch, while India battled Pakistan in hockey.
Meanwhile, on the athletics track in Hangzhou, where the rain steadily fell in the early afternoon, the men's and women's 100m sprint titles were up for grabs.
As the Games reached their halfway point, hosts China had already accumulated an impressive 107 gold medals, putting them far ahead of the competition. One of their standout performances came from Zhang Zhizhen, who secured victory in the men's tennis final on Saturday.
Ranked 60th in the world, Zhang faced an early setback, falling 4-1 behind in the first set against Japan's Yosuke Watanuki. However, with the support of the home crowd, the 26-year-old from Shanghai mounted a remarkable comeback, winning 6-4, 7-6 (9/7). Zhang became the first Chinese men's singles tennis champion at the Games since 1994 and expressed his joy, saying, "It's been a very, very tough week, not just this match, but very tough for the whole week actually, from the first match onwards. But I'm super-happy that from the beginning of the first match, step by step, I've played better and better tennis."
In earlier tennis action, Taiwan's Chan Hao-ching and Chang Yung-jan secured gold in women's doubles by defeating fellow Taiwanese Lee Ya-hsuan and Liang En-shuo with a score of 6-4, 6-3. The rising Chinese star Zheng Qinwen had already claimed the women's singles title the day before.
Some of the most highly anticipated matchups of the day were yet to come. In women's football, North Korea and South Korea faced off for a place in the semi-finals, with local and regional pride at stake between two nations technically still at war. The quarter-finals also featured Japan defending their title against the Philippines, China taking on Thailand, and Taiwan meeting Uzbekistan.
In a fitting conclusion to the day's events, arch-rivals Pakistan and India squared off in a men's hockey group match, promising another intense showdown between neighbouring nations with a history of fraught ties.
The day's competitions offered a chance to claim gold medals in various sports, including weightlifting, diving, shooting, table tennis, and eSports. Diving, where China's world-class squad was expected to excel, and weightlifting made their debuts at these Games. The drizzle provided an additional challenge for outdoor sports.
In addition to the 100m titles, five other gold medals were at stake on the second day of track and field, with EJ Obiena of the Philippines, ranked second in the world, aiming to secure his first Asian Games gold in the pole vault.
