By Hana Al Dayyat
OCA Young Reporter
Sanya, China, April 28, 2026: China's Zhou Yafei captured the gold medal in the women's speed climbing event at the 6th Asian Beach Games on Tuesday, defeating her teammate Deng Lijuan in the final held at the Tianya Haijiao climbing venue .
In the gold medal final, Zhou faced fellow Chinese climber Deng. Zhou emerged victorious with a winning time of 6.357 seconds to claim the top spot on the podium. Deng took the silver medal with her performance in the final.
Prior to the final, Zhou competed in the semifinal round against another Chinese teammate, Zhang Shaoqin. Zhou won the semifinal to advance to the gold medal final. Zhang Shaoqin went on to secure the bronze medal, completing a historic Chinese sweep of all three medals in the women's speed climbing event.
In the qualification round held earlier on Tuesday, Zhou recorded a time of 6.34 seconds, finishing second behind Indonesia's Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi, who topped the qualifiers with 6.27 seconds. However, the Indonesian climber did not advance past the later rounds.
On a memorable evening for the large home support, China produced all four semi-finalists in the women's individual event.