Japanese teenager Rikako Ikee secured two gold medals to the delight of the home crowd ©Getty Images

Japanese teenager Rikako Ikee secured two gold medals to the delight of the home crowd at the Asian Swimming Championships as South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan picked up his second title of the event at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center in Tokyo.

Sixteen-year-old Ikee triumphed in both the women’s 50 metres freestyle and 50m butterfly, while Park, who won the 200m freestyle yesterday, continued his recovery from a poor showing at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with victory in the 400m.

Ikee clocked a championship record time of 25.74sec to finish ahead of Chinese duo Lu Ying and Zhou Yilin in the butterfly race.

The youngster, considered one of the rising stars in Japanese swimming, was then forced to come from behind in the freestyle event as she touched the wall in 24.90sec, just 0.01sec in front of eventual silver medallist Zhu Menghui of China.

Zhu’s team-mate Liu Xiang sealed the bronze medal.

"I was worried about the fatigue given the short interval between the races, but I didn’t give in and that paid off," Ikee told the Japan Times.

"I could show the passion I have for the 50 freestyle."

Controversial South Korean Park, who was cleared to compete at Rio 2016 a month before the event after successfully challenging a Korean Olympic Committee ruling which forbids athletes from representing any national team for three years after a doping suspension, took the men’s 400m freestyle honours in 3min 44.58sec.

Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Park Tae-hwan added the 400m title to his 200m crown ©Getty Images
Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medallist Park Tae-hwan added the 400m title to his 200m crown ©Getty Images

His time was enough to beat Tsubasa Amai of Japan, while Qiu Ziao of China came through to claim third place.

The triumph for Park, Olympic gold medallist at Beijing 2008, represented the first time he had won a 400m race at international level since 2014.

Japanese duo Yukiko Inui and Mai Nakamura took full advantage of China choosing not to field their strongest team in the synchronised swimming duet technical routine event, topping the podium with a score of 90.3333 points.

China were second on 88.5092.

In the men’s water polo tournament, the host nation booked their place in the final, which saw them qualify for next year’s World Championships in Budapest, with a 15-6 win over Iran.

They will take on Kazakhstan for the gold medal after they narrowly overcame China 8-6.

China and Iran still have the chance of clinching a medal as they will clash for bronze.

In the women’s event, China recorded their fourth consecutive victory with an 18-2 thrashing of Thailand, while Japan matched that feat by beating Kazakhstan 10-7.

The Asian Swimming Championships in the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic host city continue tomorrow.