Athens Olympian Vladislav Polyakov brought Kazakhstan the first swimming gold in Doha Asian Games when he snapped the men's 50m breaststroke title in the most hotly- competed and world-class race of the night in the aquatic center.

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Polyakov, fifth place finisher in the Athens Olympic Games, pulled off the title in 28.29 second before double Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima.

"To be honest, I was a little surprised to get this gold in the Asian Games," said the 23-year-old. "Kitajima is strong, so I had thought that a medal would be enough."

"I have made some improvement since the last Olympic Games," he said.

Kitajima, 100m and 200m breaststroke winner in Athens, bagged silver with nine hundredths of a second behind.

"I made a mistake at the start. My foot slipped which made me lose my rhythm during the race. I would have won the gold if not for the mistake," said Kitajima, 26.

The 50m event was newly added to the Asian Games program and Kitajima will defend his 100m and 200m crowns after he eased to the 200m gold with a then world record time of 2:09.97.

Wang Haibo from China came third in 28.41.