Saudi Arabia won a silver when Bandar Yahya Sharahili finished second in the men's 400 meters final (50.29 secs) while Fahad Atiah Al-Khathami won bronze in the men's -67kg karate event taking the Kingdom's medal tally to 11.

The Pakistani breakthrough, their first major title since the World Cup in Sydney in 1994, went some way to compensate for their cricket team being stunned by Afghanistan in the semifinals.

Policewoman Ren Cancan contributed by becoming the first woman to win an Asian Games boxing title by defeating Annie Albania of the Philippines in the 48-51kg bout.

Malaysia also tasted success with world No.1 Nicol David leading her country past Hong Kong to win the women's team squash gold.

But their quest for a clean-sweep was denied when Pakistan won the men's team final.

There was disappointment for Bahrain's Ethiopian-born Jamal who missed out on adding the 800m gold to the 1500m one she won on Tuesday, failing in her bid to match her exploits from four years ago in Doha.

The 1500m world champion slumped to sixth as tiredness took over, allowing Kazakhstan's Margarita Matsko to take the glory.

"I'm very tired. It's not easy. I know myself and before I ran I knew my body was tired," the 26-year-old said, adding that she would focus on the 1500m in future.

"I don't want to run a double like this because it's not good for my body. I'm going to prepare for gold at the Olympics. I'm confident I can win gold." While Jamal flopped, Japan's Chizato Fukushima completed her own double by adding the 200m title to the 100m already to her name.

Fukushima clocked 23.62 seconds, with Vietnam's Vu Thi Huong taking silver and Guzel Khubbieva of Kazakhstan claiming bronze.

"I feel very, very, very happy," she said. "And I will try to get another gold medal in the 4x100m relay with my teammates." In other events, Qatar's Femi Ogunode added the men's 200m to his 400m title, South Korea's Lee Yeon-Kyung took the women's 100m hurdles and India's Ashwini Akkunji stood atop the 400m hurdles podium.

Veteran Sohail Abbas helped Pakistan beat Malaysia 2-0 in the hockey final and in doing so booking their place at the London Olympics.

It was their eighth Asiad hockey gold, but their first since Beijing in 1990.

"Taking the gold after 20 years was important, but I am happier that we have also booked a place in the Olympics," said captain Zeeshan Ashraf.

Former champions India defeated favorites South Korea 1-0 in the bronze medal play-off.

War-ravaged Afghanistan have only won two medals so far, a silver and bronze in the taekwondo, but they guaranteed themselves another by upsetting Pakistan by 22 runs in the cricket.

In the first meeting between them, Afghanistan scored 125-8 in their 20 overs before limiting Pakistan's flamboyant batsmen to just 103-7 as their fairytale rise in the sport continued.

"It's a big win for Afghanistan. Every person there is watching the match and everybody is happy about this win," said captain Mohammad Nabi.

Their reward is a gold medal clash on Friday against Bangladesh, who beat Sri Lanka by five wickets.

Meanwhile, China's Wang Shipeng hit a three point shot with 13 seconds left as the reigning basketball champions beat Iran 68-65 to make the final against South Korea, who dispatched Japan 55-51.

China clinched women's basketball gold with a 70-64 win over South Korea.

Double Olympic champion wrestler Artur Taymazov restored some pride for Uzbekistan, whose delegation has been embarrassed by bringing the only two drug cheats caught at the Asian Games.

The imperious 31-year-old overpowered Mongolia's Chuluunbat Jargalsaikhan 15-0 to make it three straight golds in the heavyweight 120 kg category.

"I feel like all gold medalists feel. My painstaking effort has paid off. I have fulfilled my goal, my task," he said.

Iran's Reze Yazdani took gold in the men's 96 kg class after weathering an ill-tempered bout and an eye gouging from Kazakhstan's Taimuraz Tigiyev.

The cantankerous Kazakh then lashed out at the Iranian when he was declared the winner during the victory hand raising.

Japan's men's soccer team started the tournament with a 3-0 thrashing of China in a preliminary where security personnel nearly outnumbered spectators, as authorities feared a violent flare-up amid strained ties between the two wartime foes.

Security was lighter at Tianhe stadium on Thursday evening, as Japan edged the United Arab Emirates 1-0 for their first Asian Games gold in front of a mostly generous crowd.

"I arrived here yesterday by air just for the final, I wanted to witness Japan lose this match," said disappointed spectator Yang Bing, a 42-year-old man from China's southwestern Sichuan province, nearly 2,000 kms away.

Hurdlers Ashwini Chidananda and Joseph Abraham and boxer Vikas Krishnan won a gold apiece, while a silver and three bronzes took India's tally to 53 after 13 days of competitions.

Three Indian boxers, as also the men's and women's kabaddi teams, are still in the gold hunt.

Boxer Dinesh Kumar won a silver while the bronzes came from the men's hockey team, athlete Tintu Luka (women's 800 meters) and wrestler Mausam Khatri (men's freestyle 96 kg).

With a personal best timing of 56.15 seconds, Ashwini clinched the third gold medal for India from the track and field event at the Aoti Main Stadium.

Abraham clocked his season's best timing of 49.96 seconds to win India's fourth gold medal in the track and field event Santosh Kumar Virothu (64kg), Vijender Singh (75kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) booked their place in the title clash after winning their semifinal bouts. The trio will take to the ring Friday.

Besides the gold and silver, India have also won four bronze medals in boxing. After losing to Malaysia in a match that was virtually in their pocket, India redeemed themselves somewhat by claiming the men's hockey bronze, defeating South Korea 1-0.

Tushar Khandekar scored a field gold in the 39th minute at the Aoti Hockey Field to give India its second Asian Games hockey bronze after 1986.

Tintu Luka, who had a disappointing finish in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, led the 800 meters pack right from the start, but couldn't keep pace in the last 50 meters and finished third in 2:01.36 seconds.