Bodybuilding competitors first executed a series of moves together before performing individually to music.

Seven events were held today, all for men, with home victories achieved by Pham Kim Nhan, in the up to 158 centimetre event, Nguyen Hai Au at up to 165cm, Sa Pa at up to 168cm and Mai Xuzn Thuc in the tallest up to 180cm division.

Bahrain also claimed gold courtesy of Abdulrasool Ali in the up to 162cm category, while there was a Chinese double for Zheng Shaozhong and Chen Kang in the respective up to 172 and 176cm divisions.

The event, seen as a key platform for the sport as it seeks to raise its profile on the international stage, attracted a sizable crowd of locals packing into the arena.

A major challenge appears to be preserving its improved anti-doping record.

Bodybuilding was briefly dropped from the Asian Beach Games programme after five failed tests at Muscat 2010.

There were no failures upon its return at Phuket 2014 following special additional testing, which is also being undertaken here.

Coastal rowing was another, very different, sport in which medals were won today.

In a novel format, competitors first sprinted down the sand to their boats before navigating a series of buoys on a slalom course in a match racing one-on-one format before returning to the shore and sprinting back to a flag.

Thailand’s Sangpromcharee Nuttapong won the gold medal in 2min 57.93sec in the men’s solo event after beating Hong Kong’s Law Hiu Fung by just 0.39 seconds in a thrilling finish.

Indonesia’s Chelsea Corputty won the women’s competition ahead of Thailand’s Pitukpaothai Tippaporn.

"The success of this event has been massively significant for the whole world of rowing," Britain's International Rowing Federation Executive Board member Guin Batten, an Olympic silver medallist in the quadruple sculls at Sydney 2000, said afterwards. 

"To be able to see the beach format on a really traditional, exciting beach where tourists would normally be on, is such a world away from our normal rowing, it’s absolutely amazing."

There was also a Thailand double today in the men and women's 4x60m relay.

Vietnam's Vu Thi Men leapt to 13.11 metres to win the women's triple jump final.