Thailand's first medal of the Hangzhou Asian Games was delivered by rowers Nuntida Krajangjam and Parisa Chaempudsa who took the bronze medal in the women's double sculls final on Sunday morning.
Like the majority of other rowing contests at Fuyang Water Sports Center, the women's double sculls event was dominated by the host country.
Lu Shiyu and Shen Shuangmei took the gold medal after winning the final race in 7:03.41 minutes, a whopping 13.67 seconds ahead of the Iranian pair of Mahsa Javer and Zeinab Norouzi.
Nuntida and Parisa crossed the finish line in 7:21.70 to claim the bronze medal. They were more than three seconds ahead of the Kazakhstan pair in the six-team final race.
It is the first-ever Asian Games medal for the Nuntida and Parisa.
Meanwhile Thailand women's football team picked up three points from their opening Group B game following a 1-0 victory over India on Sunday.
After India's Manisha sent a shot wide at Wenzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, Thai player Ploychompoo Somnuek also guided the ball over the bar to return the favour.
In the second half, the Chaba Kaew put one on the board in the 52nd minute when unmarked Parichat Thongrong found the net from the left side of the box.
The Indians controlled the game as the Thais sat back in their own half to defend the slim edge.
Manisha and Renu both had chances but could not convert them and the Indians, who lost 2-1 to Taiwan in their first game, were bundled out of the tournament.
Thailand will play their last match of the preliminary round with Taiwan on Wednesday.
In boxing, Thananya Somnuek defeated Bibinashastamo Kholova of Tajikistan by RSC in the second round of the women's 60kg category at Hangzhou Gymnasium.
However compatriot Jutamas Jitpong lost to China's Chang Yuan 3-2 in the first round of the women's 54kg division.
Other Thai athletes in action on Sunday included taekwondo athlete Nuttapat Kaewkan, who bowed out in the quarter-finals of the men's individual poomsae competition after losing to South Korea's Kang Wan-Jin at Lin'an Sports Culture and Exhibition Centre.
Kang went on to win the gold medal later in the day.
Pichamon Limpaiboon exited in the round of 16 of the women's individual event, losing to Taiwan's Chen Hsin-ya.
Strong start
Hosts China swept the first gold medals of the tournament on Sunday.
China claimed the first gold when Zou Jiaqi and Qiu Xiuping dominated the women's lightweight double sculls rowing to kick off a medal rush for the home nation.
China won 12 of the first 19 golds at the Games, with their rowers especially emphatic. South Korea were their nearest challengers with four golds in total.
Zou and Qiu finished in 7min 6.78sec in their final, with Uzbekistan's Luizakhon Islamova and Malika Tagmativa taking silver, almost 10 seconds behind.
The hosts soon doubled up on the rowing lake as the men's lightweight double sculls gold was won by Fan Junjie and Sun Man, who finished five seconds clear of India's Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh.
China won six of the seven golds at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre rowing venue on Sunday morning with only Hong Kong's Lam San-tung and Wong Wai-chun getting in on the party by winning the men's pairs.
China's shooters also claimed the women's 10m team air rifle.
The hosts' rip-roaring start continued as Sun Peiyuan won the first martial arts gold.
Sun successfully defended his men's changquan wushu title from 2018, ahead of Indonesia's Edgar Xavier Marvelo with Macau's Song Chi-kuan third.
Elsewhere, Natsumi Tsunoda secured Japan's first gold medal by winning the women's 48kg division in judo.
Tsunoda, who has won the last three world championships at this weight and has already been selected to compete at next summer's Paris Olympics, beat Abiba Abuzhakynova of Kazakhstan by ippon through a cross arm lock in just over two minutes.
The 31-year-old won her second straight Asian Games gold, having won the 52-kg title in Indonesia in 2018. bangkok post/agencies