Host gymnast Teng Haibin shrugged off the Athens ghost to win a ninth straight Asiad men's all-around title for China on Monday.

The 25-year-old veteran, key man in China's Olympic fiasco in 2004, accumulated 91.100 points on all six apparatuses to edge his compatriot Lv Bo by 1.250.

The bronze medal went to Japanese Hisashi Mizutori in 89.700.

After a six-year wait, Teng returned to light at the last month's world championships in Rotterdam where he also had a faulty 11th-place performance in all-around. While doubts surfaced that the Athens ghost was still haunting him, he proved himself with almost flawless routines on home turf.

"It's not easy," said Teng. "It's a new start. That gold gave me much confidence to look to next year's world championship and 2012 Olympics."