Tokyo: Kim Young-beom and Hwang Sun-woo captured silver and bronze medals in the men's 100-meter freestyle swimming race at the Asian Games on Sunday, marking a promising start for South Korea's medal aspirations in the pool.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Kim finished second at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre clocking in at 47.65 seconds, narrowly missing the gold by 0.04 seconds to China's Pan Zhanle. Hwang secured the bronze with a time of 47.79 seconds.

Tokyo is the venue for all swimming events, while the central city of Nagoya serves as the main host city for the quadrennial competition. South Korea, which secured 22 swimming medals at the previous Asian Games three years ago, is aiming to replicate that success.

Kim led the race at the halfway mark, touching the 50m pad in 22.81 seconds, closely followed by Singapore's Mikkel Lee at 22.86 seconds. Pan was slightly behind at 22.92, and Hwang was slower at 22.97. Pan's late surge in the final 50 meters, clocking the fastest split of 24.69, secured his victory. Kim's final split was 24.84, the fourth-fastest, while Hwang had the third-best split with 24.82.