Shokir Muminov, 27, a bronze medallist at the 2006 Doha Games, tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant used by bodybuilders that has caught out several other athletes across an array of sports in recent weeks.
Amid the furor China stuck to their guns in the sporting field, sweeping the three table tennis doubles gold medals among their 17 titles won on Friday.
The hosts now have 126 golds in total, 83 more than second-placed South Korea.
Muminov was trounced in the 81-kg category final on Sunday by Olympic silver medallist Kim Jae-bum, falling hard to the mat for an automatic Nippon defeat within three minutes when his wily South Korean opponent swept his leg from underneath him.
The Uzbek needed a few seconds to pick himself up before taking his silver medal but now faces a two-year ban.
“The athlete has been disqualified from the competition as well as these Games and his performance in the competition has been nullified, his medal withdrawn and appropriate adjustment made to the results,” said the Olympic Council of Asia’s medical committee chief.
Dr. Mani Jegathesan, chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia’s medical committee, said Muminov’s urine test taken after the competition showed traces of the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine. The World Anti-Doping Agency recently loosened the classification of Methylhexaneamine for next year to the “specified stimulant” list, which covers drugs that are more susceptible to inadvertent use and can carry reduced penalties.
Sanctions for use of the drug can be reduced if athletes prove they did not intend to enhance performance. Penalties range from a warning to a two-year ban.
More than 10,000 athletes in 42 sports are competing in the games which end Nov. 27.
Uzbekistan were also engulfed in a scandal at the 2006 Doha Games when two of their four weightlifters failed drug tests.
Friday’s announcement left organizers with a quandary as to which of the event’s two bronze medallists would benefit from Muminov’s demotion.
Uzbekistan previously raised eyebrows in Guangzhou when one of their cyclists tried to kick a South Korean after a crash in the men’s points race.
The rider’s coach said: “Good on him.”
Having weathered complaints about heavy-handed security measures and “sold-out” venues with poor crowds, organizers were embarrassed for a third straight day over the disqualification of Taiwanese taekwondo fighter Yang Shu-chun.
Yang’s ban over the use of unauthorized sensors in her footwear on Wednesday raised hackles in self-ruled Taiwan as politicians demanded a review and bloggers accused Chinese officials of a politically motivated decision.
Following a spectacular failure to gauge popular opinion, a deputy minister in Taiwan’s sports council fell on his sword after suggesting Yang should “swallow” the result.
“Deputy Minister Chen Hsien-tsung feels upset through the process, therefore he has already filed his resignation,” said vice premier Sean Chen.
Another government minister had flown to Guangzhou to help resolve the dispute following Taiwan president Ma Ying-Jeou’s demand for a review on Thursday, the vice premier added.
Embattled World Taekwondo Federation president Yang Jin Suk, who has been accused by Taiwan bloggers of pandering to local officialdom, refused to waver.
“Taiwan has been playing it up with the media. It is unfortunate,” he told Reuters. “She (Yang) initially intended to cheat.”
“China is just like huge walls to us,” said Noriyuki Ichihara, head of the Japanese delegation, as he defended his third-placed team’s haul of 24 golds.
“A respectable sum of silver medals (49) means that we have huge potential to dig.”
Although monopolizing top spot on the podium for most events, China’s baseball team’s medal aspirations were dashed in a 6-2 rout by Japan in their bronze semi-final.
South Korea took the title from Doha champions Taiwan, belting three home runs in a 9-3 thrashing that could mean Choo Shin-soo of the Cleveland Indians is excused from mandatory two-year military service.
“A lot of fans and players have been concerned about my future and that led to great results here,” Shin-soo said.
World champion Behdad Salimikordasiabi of Iran lost eight kilograms after contracting swine flu three weeks before Guangzhou but won gold by hoisting a combined 440kg in the men’s 105kg weightlifting.
He declined to better his performance, saying: “Once I knew I had the gold medal I did not need to come out. I was still feeling ill.”
In the men’s baseball final, South Korea beat Taiwan 9-3.
South Korea moved ahead 2-1 in the second and then capitalized on some erratic pitching by Taiwan, scoring four runs in the third including two out-of-the-park shots by Lee Dae-ho and Kang Jung-ho.
Japan won the bronze by defeating China earlier in the day 6-2. Five of Japan’s runs were scored in the first inning.
Nida Rashid scored an unbeaten 51 and took four wickets for 16 runs to lead Pakistan to the first-ever cricket gold medal awarded at the Asian Games with a 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the women’s Twenty20 final After being sent into bat, Bangladesh was bowled out for 92 in 20 overs. It was Pakistan’s first gold at Guangzhou, after collecting silver in wushu and a bronze in snooker.
Earlier, Japan defeated China by seven wickets to clinch bronze. The men’s competition starts on the weekend.
In men’s football, North Korea is out of the tournament after losing 9-8 on penalties to United Arab Emirates after their quarterfinal ended in a scoreless draw. Japan advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 win over Thailand.
South Korea took on Uzbekistan and Iran played Oman in late matches.
In weightlifting, South Korea’s Jang Mi-ran, dubbed the world’s strongest woman, won gold in the super heavyweight class.
Jang lifted 130 kilograms in the snatch and 181 in the clean and jerk to finish with a total of 311. She was unsuccessful in her attempt to lift 188 in the clean and jerk, which would have broken her previous world record.
“I thought my form today was pretty good but ... now that the competition is over I’m sore all over,” said Jang, an Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion who’s now looking ahead to the London Games in 2012. “This gives me more confidence and motivation for the read ahead.”
Haeider Hamarasheid, who does his training in a river due to the lack of a rowing basin in Iraq, earlier gave his country its first medal of the games, taking a bronze in the men’s single sculls. The race was won by Bajrang Lal Takhar, who gave India its second gold of the games.
Hamarasheid, one of five Iraqi rowers at the Asian Games, said when he told his friends two years ago that he would one day compete at the Olympics in rowing, they weren’t sure whether to believe him.
“They were very surprised that there was such a sport in Iraq,” Hamarasheid said. “The bronze medal has come at a good time, I will be in the newspaper and on the TV back home. People will start to know me and more importantly, start to know about rowing.” He said he trained twice a day in the river and had a good support team.
“I have to thank my teammates and coach. We are like a family. When I train late, they wait for me,” he said.
“When they train late, I wait for them.” Steven Wong won the BMX cycling gold for Hong Kong in a time of 30.37 seconds, about a second ahead of the minor medalists from Japan, Akifumi Sakamoto and Masahiro Sampei.
Ma Liyun won the women’s race.
