Incheon (South Korea), Sep 16 (IANS): South Korea's swimming superstar Park Tae-hwan and China's rising star Sun Yang are expected to extend their long-standing rivalry as they vie for honours in the men's freestyle 200m race at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center at the Asian Games, starting here Sep 19.

Two-time defending champion Park had won the race in Guangzhou ahead of Sun while the duo had shared second-place after clocking one minute 44.93 seconds at the 2012 Olympics in London, reports Xinhua.

Going into the race, Park will be the firm favourite as the local crowd will root for him but the 24-year-old needs to wary of Sun and Kosuke Hagino of Japan.

Hagino, though, has recently started to race in the freestyle and backstroke events and has already proved his mettle after setting a new record for the men's freestyle event at the Japanese Championships in April, which was also held as trials for the Asian Games.

The 20-year-old gave further proof of his credentials as he came second after Australian Thomas Fraser-Holmes, to become the fastest Asian, at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.