Nagoya, October 4, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
China’s 13-year-old swimming sensation Yu Zidi and Thailand’s sprinter Puripol Boonson have been named the Female and Male Most Valuable Players (MVPs), respectively, of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
Both athletes were rewarded for standout campaigns featuring multiple gold medals and a series of Asian Games and Asian records. They will each receive USD 25,000 from the OCA.
Yu emerged as one of the biggest stars of the Games after winning three individual swimming gold medals in the women’s 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley.
The teenager also set three Games Records and one Asian Record. She began her record-breaking campaign in the 200m butterfly on September 20, clocking 2:05.08 for a Games Record.
A day later, her winning time of 2:06.10 in the 200m individual medley established another Games Record and lowered the Asian Record. She completed her gold-medal hat-trick on September 23, winning the 400m individual medley in 4:28.56, another Games Record.
Boonson, meanwhile, dominated the men’s sprint events to secure Thailand’s 100m-200m double. The 20-year-old set four Asian Games Records and equalled an Asian Record during his campaign.
He won the 100m on September 25 in 9.90 seconds, improving the Asian Games Record of 9.91 seconds that he had set in the semi-finals.
Two days later, Boonson completed the sprint double in the 200m with a winning time of 19.88 seconds. The performance broke his own Games Record of 20.10 seconds, set the previous day, and equalled the Asian Record.
He also won a silver medal as part of Thailand’s mixed 4x100m relay team.
Tayyab Ikram, chair of the OCA MVP Awards Panel, said the quality of performances at Aichi-Nagoya made the selection process challenging.
He said Yu and Boonson had not only set Asian Games and Asian records but had also established themselves as emerging stars of Asian sport, adding that their performances could serve as a stepping stone towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Yu and Boonson join a distinguished list of OCA Asian Games MVP winners that includes Japan’s Koji Ito and Kosuke Kitajima, China’s Park Tae-hwan and Lin Dan, Japan’s Rikako Ikee, and China’s Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei, who were the respective male and female winners in 2022.
The five-member panel that selected the 2026 MVPs comprised Ikram, OCA Deputy Director General Vinod Kumar Tiwari, OCA Athletes Committee chair Ding Ning, OCA Sports Committee chair Song Luzeng and Jeremy Walker, editor of the OCA Sporting Asia Newsletter.
With the Los Angeles Olympics now on the horizon, the OCA said the performances of Yu and Boonson could mark the beginning of even bigger international careers for the two emerging sporting stars.
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