HIROSHIMA, Japan -- Swimmer Xiong Guoming became a triple gold medalist Tuesday as China swept all of Tuesday's swimming, diving and weightlifting battles, sending its gold medal lead soaring in the Asian Games.


Chinese broke world records in two more divisions of women's weightlifting, bringing their total to five in six events.


With victories in women's team gymnastics and individual foil fencing too, the Chinese seized 12 of the 16 golds decided on the second full day of competition -- missing only those in karate, a Japanese fighting sport in which it has no entries.


That gave them a total of 20, with Japan far back in second place at eight. Iran and Syria wrecked Japan's chances of a sweep in karate by winning two of the day's four events.


Japan also had hoped to win at least one of the day's swimming golds after its big lead in the morning qualifying for the men's 800-meter freestyle relay. But China won that too, beating the Japanese by nearly a second in an Asian record time of 7 minutes, 26.28 seconds. Japan finished in 7:27.18 and South Korea took the bronze in 7:33.61.


Xiong anchored the relay team to victory after winning the grueling men's 400-meter individual medley Tuesday and the 200 freestyle Monday.


In Tuesday's 400, he won in an Asian record 4:19.40, with Thailand's Ratapong Sirisanont second in 4:20.03.


Although China's men had been in the shadow of the women's world champion-laden team, Jiang Chengji contributed to the day's shutout by edging Japan's Hajime Itoi 25.72 to 25.81 in the 100-meter butterfly, setting a record.


The day's two women's races were Chinese 1-2 sweeps, both with games records: Yuan Yuan and Daihong finished in 2:28.34 and 2:29.72 in the 200-meter breaststroke, and Lu Bin and Le Ying went 1:57.37 and 1:59.77 in the 200 freestyle. China's world record-breakers in weightlifting Tuesday were Chen Xiaomin at 59 kilograms and Tang Weifang at 70 kilograms.


Lei Li was China's other weightlifting gold medalist, winning in the 64-kilogram class with a total of 225. Taiwan's Kuo Shu-fen was second with 210.


Mo Huilan, dubbed "Mighty Mouse'' by her teammates, led China to the women's team gymnastics gold, scoring a pair of 9.95s on the uneven bars and in her floor routine.


China finished with 194.375 points, Japan with 189.050 and South Korea with 184.400.


Japan had karate victories Tuesday from Shinichiro Yamamoto, who beat Vietnam's Tran Van Thong 6-1 in the 60-kilogram class final, and Shizuo Shiina, who outpointed Iran's Saeed Ashtian 6-3 for the 75-kilogram division gold.


The competition's gold medal for audacity goes to the 56 men and women claiming to be the Philippines National Volleyball Team. They arrived Sunday at Fukoka Airport on a flight from Seoul, with elaborate uniforms, flags and what at first passed as official Asian Games identification cards.


An alert Japanese official, however, noticed that the "team" members did not quite measure up. Volleyball players are usually 5 feet 10 inches or taller, while the purported players were "without exception ... of average height or shorter."


The bogus players' baggage was searched and no volleyball equipment was found. The 56 people were sent back to Manila and officials were told to watch out for fake identity cards.