India take two golds on day 8
A Chinese woman gave the Asian Games its seventh day of weightlifting world records on Monday, and a
Lebanese bodybuilder became the first medallist involved in a
doping rules case.
Bodybuilder Yousseff el-Zetn did not take a mandatory
drug test after the over-90-kilogram event, and the decision
to take away his bronze medal will be just a formality,
officials said.
Kazakhstan's Valeriy Borissov opened the Games' track
and field competition by walking 20 kilometres for a
three-second victory.
South Korea, meanwhile, was the day's big winner, taking
15 golds, including a sweep of five in softball tennis.
Its total of 47, however, still was far behind China's 97. The day's collection also included two in shooting, two in wrestling, two in cycling and one each in athletics, bowling,
billiards and weightlifting.
The South Koreans won men's and women's singles and
doubles and mixed doubles in softball tennis, which has both
a different ball and different scoring system than regular
tennis.
For China, weightlifter Sun Ruiping broke world records
in the snatch, clean and jerk and total in the 75-kg division.
World records now have been broken or tied in seven of 10
weight divisions.
Sun, a 21-year-old first-year student at Beijing Sports
University, said she had never expected to "embark on this
road".
"I was accidentally chosen by a coach for weightlifting
when I was very young," she said.
Chinese also won two golds in shooting and one each in
cycling and walking.
No world marks fell in the men's 85-kilogram
weightlifting, where South Korea's Song Jong-shik won the
gold.
Japan stood third with 31 golds after winning in
five-woman team bowling, women's wrestling and men's team
tennis, where it beat South Korea in the final.
In the men's 20-kilometre walk, Borissov trailed the
leaders until the last kilometre. Pushing ahead, he beat
China's Yu Chaohong by three seconds with a time of 1 hour,
24 minutes, 20 seconds.
Then China's Wang Qingqing led a 1-2 Chinese finish in
the women's race, with Wang 1:33:40 at the finish.
In the stadium later, Saudi Arabia won its first gold of
the Games when Makhld Al-Otaibi surged ahead on the final
lap and beat Qatar's Ahmed Ibrahim M.W. Hashim by 1.64
seconds in the men's 10,000 metres.
South Korea's Lee Young-sun won the women's javelin
competition, ahead of two Chinese.
India's Anju Bobby George won the women's long jump.
Earlier, India went undefeated through five matches in
kabaddi, a south Asian sport resembling team tag, and finished
its gold-medal run with a 37-7 victory over Pakistan.
Bangladesh, a 55-15 winner over Sri Lanka today, took the
silver and Pakistan won the bronze.
In a break in the Chinese monopoly on shooting golds,
Turkmenistan won its first of the games when Igor Pirekeev
outscored China's Yao Ye 1,266.9 to 1,260.5 in men's
50-metre, three-position rifle competition. China won the
team event.
North Korea's Kim Jong Su won the men's 25-metre
centre-fire pistol shooting, but China again won the team
competition.
South Korea won the women's team skeet shooting, with
Son Hye-kyoung taking the individual gold.
Of 38 shooting events so far, China has won 26.
China's cycling gold came when its quartet beat Iran's
by 2.355 seconds in the men's 4-kilometre team pursuit.
South Korean Kim Yong-mi won the women's 24-kilometre
points race and Cho Ho-sung won the men's 30-kilometre points
race, both by big margins.