After solid performances in the swimming and fencing rounds, Zhang sealed top-three finishes in the riding and laser-run disciplines to secure victory with a combined total of 1,406 points in Hangzhou.

It was Zhang’s second successive Asian Games champion and secured China a place in the women’s modern pentathlon competition at Paris 2024.

"I feel very good and I want to thank all my team and coaches and my family," said Zhang.

"We had some turnover but the results is good.

"I didn’t think I could win, but I tried my best to create the best result.

"I hope my result in Paris can be better than in Tokyo."

South Korea’s Kun Sun-woo was ahead of Zhang at the halfway stage but had to settle for silver with 1,386 points, while Bian Yufei bagged bronze with 1,374.

Kun claimed one of the five spots available for Paris 2024 along with Japan’s Misaki Uchida, Elena Potapenko of Kazakhstan and Alise Fakhrutdinova of Uzbekistan.

Olympic bronze medallist Jun finished second in the laser-run to capture the men’s individual title after a thrilling battle with compatriot Lee Ji-hun and China's Li Shuhuan.

There was little between the trio with Jun triumphing with a score of 1,508 points.

Lee picked up silver on 1,492, edging out Li who took bronze with 1,484.

Victory for Jun also saw him confirm a quota for South Korea at Paris 2024, while other spots went to China’s Li, Japan’s Taishu Sato and Kazakhstan’s Georgiy Boroda-Dudochkin.

Phurit Yuhuang also made history by becoming the first Thailand athlete to secure a place at the Olympics.

"I now have two individual gold medals from the Asian Games and a team gold," said Jun.

"This is my last competition of the season and I’m really happy.

"I was very happy to catch the Paris 2024 Olympic place, and now I can prepare well this year and next year.

"I will try to improve on my third place from Tokyo."

Team titles were also awarded in modern pentathlon with China triumphing in the women’s event with 4,094 points and South Korea claiming the men’s competition with 4,477.

China had a day to remember, winning 20 of the 31 golds on offer on the opening day of competition in Hangzhou.

They underlined their dominance in rowing where they secured six of the seven golds available and swimming where they won all seven titles.

Wang Shun, who helped to light the Cauldron at yesterday’s Opening Ceremony, starred in the pool, sealing the men’s 200 metres individual medley title.

The Chinese swimmer, who is the Olympic gold medallist in that event, clocked 1min 54.62sec to break the Asian record.

China’s Qin Haiyang came second in 1:57.41, with Japan’s Daiya Seto earning bronze in 1:58.35.

Zhang Yufei and Xu Jiayu both lowered the Asian Games record in the women’s 200m butterfly and men’s 100m backstroke events respectively.

A time of 2:05.57 saw Zhang clinch gold, while Xu, who enjoyed a golden hat-trick in individual backstroke competitions at Jakarta Palembang 2018, secured his first title in Hangzhou over the 100m distance in 52.23sec.

Pan Zhanle overcame Wang Haoyu in a Chinese one-two to take men’s 100m freestyle gold in 46.97, while Li Bingji led from start to finish to claim the women’s 1,500m freestyle title in 15:51.18 and Tang Qianting was the only swimmer to dip under 30 seconds to win the women’s 50m breaststroke final in 29.96.

China completed the clean sweep when they won the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay crown in 3:33.96, smashing the Asian Games record by three seconds.

There was double delight for China in wushu with Sun Peiyuan and Tong Xin coming out on top.

Sun triumphed in the men’s changquan discipline with a score of 9.840 points, while Tong produced excellent performances in the taijijian and taijiquan techniques to win gold with 9.853.

China also bagged the first two golds up for grabs in shooting, with Huang Yuting winning both.

Huang registered an Asian Games record score of 252.7 points to clinch the women’s 10m air rifle title.

Prior to that, Huang also joined forces with Han Jiayu and Wang Zhilin to win women’s team 10m air rifle gold with 1,896.6.

The hosts also found success in artistic gymnastics as Lan Xingyu, Zhang Boheng, Xiao Ruoteng and Lin Chaopan combined for the men's team title.

The quartet amassed 262.025 points to take the late victory as they were in the last rotation.

It was on the rings where they really starred, as they posted all of the highest three scores.

Lan topped the standings on 14.966 before being followed by Zou and Zhang.

Japan's 258.628 was enough for silver while Chinese Taipei rounded out the top three on 244.760.

It did not all go China's way, however, as Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games champion Cheung Ka Long of Hong Kong humiliated Chen Haiwei 15-2 in the men's fencing foil final.

They were joined on the podium by semi-final losers Ryan Choi of Hong Kong and Japan's Takahiro Shikine.

It was Japan's time to shine in the judo and they did just that through Natsumi Tsunoda, one of the biggest names of the Games.

The three-time world champion struck first with a thunderous ippon to take the women's under-48kg title.

Her compatriot Ryoma Tanaka just about beat Mongolian Baskhuu Yondonperenlei in the men's under-66kg final.

Before then, the women's under-52kg and men's under-60kg golds went to Uzbekistan's Diyora Keldiyorova and Yang Yung Wei of Chinese Taipei respectively.