As the Beijing Olympics entered the third day, Asian athletes have shown a rare dominance by snatching half of the gold medals on offer so far, while Asian leaders have hailed the Games' successful opening as a "pride" to be shared by the whole continent.

By the end of the Monday competition, 11 Asian countries and regions have seized 38 medals out of the total 108 offered, including 17 out of the 34 golds. China and South Korea, with 9 and 4 golds respectively, have occupied the top two positions of the Games' medal tally.

The over one billion people in India also had a historic breakthrough to celebrate on Monday, as 25-year-old marksman Abhinav Bindra won his country the first Olympic individual gold in history in men's 10m air rifle.

"This is going to give a huge incentive in going up further and becoming a dominant (sporting) power," Indian Sports Minister Manohar Singh Gill was quoted as saying by Indian television.

Up to now, the strong performance of the Asians were still spearheaded and bolstered by traditional and rising sport powerhouses in the region, mainly Japan, South Korea and China.

Interestingly, the three have all played host to the summer Olympics, with Beijing following the suit of Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1988.

To some Asian leaders, the return of the international sports gala to this most-populated continent after a 20-year gap itself is already something great enough to cheer for.

More than 80 foreign heads of state or government and royals attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on Friday night, among whom nearly 20 were from China's Asian neighbors.

"As an Asian, I'm proud of the success of the opening ceremony," said Lee Myung bak, president of the Republic of Korea, after witnessing the stunning extravaganza in the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, in north Beijing. Quite a few others, including Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and DPRK top legislator Kim Yong Nam, made similar remarks during their meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao over the past few days.

For the Asian athletes, however, their pride and honor could only come from victories in the Olympic venues.

Thanks to the excellent performance of shooters, weightlifters, divers and judokas, the 639-member Chinese legion, the largest at these Games, maintained a gold harvest for three consecutive days, taking in two, four and three gold medals respectively.

According to media reports, the country's collection of gold medals at successive summer Olympic Games, which started from Los Angeles 1984, now stands at a total of 121, surpassing Japan's overall collection of 116.

But Japan, which earned Asia's first Olympic medals, remained in the elite club of Asian sports, as proved by the great Monday victory of its star swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, who retained his 100m breaststroke title with a new world record.

Without much difficulty, the invincible South Korean archers successfully defended their Olympic team titles with record-setting results, for the third time on the men's side and for an incredible sixth time on the women's side.

While it was inevitable for the Asian teams, often with overlapping superiorities in certain sports, to fight each other for the same medal, the spectators, particularly the home crowd in Beijing, seemed ready to accept whatever results -- as long as the honor goes to Asia.

After Monday's men's 10m air rifle final, the Chinese spectators at the Beijing Shooting Range were saddened to see their gold hopeful, Athens Games defending champion Zhu Qinan weep on the awarding podium, for his narrow defeat to the new champion. Nevertheless, they also applauded and cheered for the convincing victory of the Indian, who nailed the gold with a 10.8-point last shot compared with Zhu's 10.5.

"Zhu tried his best, but Bindra certainly outperformed him," said Olympic champion Zhang Shan, who won the skeet event at the Barcelona Games in 1992. "Anyway, it was also exciting to see India win its first individual gold."

Some sports analysts here believed that the Asian athletes owed their medal dominance to the schedule of the Games, and warned that it could be short-lived as the competition of swimming and athletics, both weak sports for the Asians traditionally, will soon heat up.

The warning seems quite reasonable and justifiable, but there is at least one person who refused to believe.

South Korean swimming prodigy Park Tae Hwan, after winning the men's 400m freestyle gold on Sunday, said he wanted to challenge Michael Phelps in men's 200m freestyle final, scheduled for Tuesday, and shatter the American superstar's ambition to stage a record 8-gold sweep in the pool.

After the Sunday win, Park received a congratulatory phone call from President Lee Myung bak, who said the victory has boosted the national morale and demonstrated the rise of the country's overall strength.

"I will beat him (Phelps)," said a confident Park after Monday's semifinals. "I still feel a bit tired (from the Sunday competition), but I will definitely show my best form tomorrow."

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)