Sun Yang wins gold in 200m freestyle at Asian championships

Sun Yang, who won four medals at the London Olympics, won the 200m freestyle at the Asian championships.

Hassan Ammar/AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Chinese swimmer Sun Yang picked up where he left off at the London Olympics by winning his first gold medal at the Asian championships on Thursday.

Sun's victory in the 200-meter freestyle marked a night in which China dominated in the pool, winning eight of the 10 races. The only swimmers to break China's dominance was Chang Guy-cheol of South Korea, the 2010 Youth Olympic champion who won the 100 butterfly and Hiroko Makino of Japan, who won the women's 400.

Sun won the 200 in a championship-record 1 minute, 45.49 seconds, 4.18 seconds faster than teammate Hao Yun.

Also, Olympic bronze medalist Tang Yi won the 100 free while Wang Shun won the men's 400 in a championship record time of 4:16.59.

Sun, who won two golds, a silver and bronze in London and broke his own 1,500 world record, is also targeting gold in the 400 and 50 in Dubai.

Sun is the biggest name at the competition traditionally dominated by Chinese swimmers. This year, Japan and South Korea didn't send their top swimmers.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.