Asian Games: China’s Yu Zidi, Thailand’s Puripol Boonson named Most Valuable Players
text_fields
Nagoya: China’s 13-year-old swimming prodigy Yu Zidi and Thailand’s sprinter Puripol Boonson were named the Female and Male Most Valuable Players (MVPs), respectively, of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Sunday.
Both athletes were recognised for outstanding campaigns that featured multiple gold medals and a series of Asian Games and Asian records. They will each receive USD 25,000 from the OCA.
Yu emerged as one of the biggest stars of the Games after winning three individual swimming gold medals. She triumphed in the women’s 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley, setting three Games Records and one Asian Record.
Her first record came in the 200m butterfly on September 20, when she clocked 2:05.08. The following day, she won the 200m individual medley in 2:06.10, setting a Games Record and lowering the Asian Record. She completed her gold-medal hat-trick on September 23 with a 4:28.56 victory in the 400m individual medley, setting another Games Record.
Boonson, 20, dominated the men’s sprint events, winning Thailand’s 100m-200m double. He set four Asian Games Records and equalled an Asian Record during the competition.
In the 100m on September 25, Boonson won gold in 9.90 seconds, improving the Asian Games Record of 9.91 seconds that he had set in the semi-finals. Two days later, he secured the 200m title in 19.88 seconds, breaking his own Games Record of 20.10 seconds and equalling the Asian Record. He also won silver as part of Thailand’s mixed 4x100m relay team.
Tayyab Ikram, chair of the OCA MVP Awards Panel, said selecting the winners was difficult given the high standard of performances throughout the Games. He said Yu and Boonson had established themselves as Asian sporting stars and could build on their success at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Yu and Boonson join previous OCA Asian Games MVP winners including Japan’s Koji Ito and Kosuke Kitajima, China’s Lin Dan, Rikako Ikee and Qin Haiyang, and Park Tae-hwan of South Korea. Zhang Yufei and Qin Haiyang were the respective female and male winners in 2022.
The five-member selection panel comprised Ikram, OCA Deputy Director General Vinod Kumar Tiwari, Athletes Committee chair Ding Ning, Sports Committee chair Song Luzeng and OCA Sporting Asia Newsletter editor Jeremy Walker.
With IANS inputs