Curling was the only other sport in which competition took place today on the eve of tomorrow's Opening Ceremony.

Japan finished in second place at the last edition of the continental event in Almaty and Astana in 2011.

No standalone final was held, but they were forced to settle for second after losing 4-1 to the Kazakh hosts and gold medal winners in the final match of the round-robin format.

But revenge proved sweet today as the host nation's dominated in front of a partisan crowd at the Tsukisamu Gymnastium.

South Korea thrashed Thailand 20-0 elsewhere while China won by an identically emphatic margin over Hong Kong.

None of the top tier teams competed today, but games were held at Division I and II level.

Thailand won the closest encounter of the day, 5-4 over Mongolia at the Mikaho Gymnasium.

Chinese Taipei won 10-3 over United Arab Emirates while Hong Kong beat Singapore 12-1.

In the lowest tier, Turkmenistan made a winning start of their Asian Winter Games debut by beating Malaysia 9-2.

Kyrgyzstan also began well with a 5-0 success against a Kuwaiti team competing under the Independent Olympic Flag due to the country's suspension from the Olympic Council of Asia.

Uneven scorelines were also the hallmark of the opening day's play in curling.

This included a thumping 20-0 win for defending champions South Korea over Qatar in a tie where World Curling Federation President Kate Caithness was among the spectators.

Japan and China's men's teams also began well.

The host nation beat Chinese Taipei 11-3 while China beat Kazakhstan 12-1.

China's women, whose bronze medal at Vancouver 2010 was the only Olympic curling podium finish secured by an Asian team, also opened their account by emphatically winning 20-2 over Kazakhstan.

The first two gold medals are due to be unveiled tomorrow in parallel giant slalom snowboarding.

Medal winners will be presented at the Opening Ceremony of the Games later in the day.