Yuki Saneto’s goal midway through the second half gave Japan the win. He took a floating cross from the left and drove a right-foot shot from an acute angle past goalkeeper Ali Khaseif Housani.
South Korea rallied to win the bronze medal 4-3 over Iran, with substitute Ji Dong-won scoring twice in the final two minutes for the win.
Vietnam, after winning 15 silver and 13 bronze medals, finally got its first gold of the games. Phuong Le Bich beat world champion Miki Kobayashi of Japan 4-3 to win the under-55 kilogram class in karate.
“The people of Vietnam have waited a long time for this medal,” Le Bich said.
Drag flicker Sohail Abbas and veteran Rehan Butt helped Pakistan regain the field hockey gold. Abbas netted a powerful push off a 26th-minute short corner while Butt was brilliantly set up by Shafqat Rasool from the right side in the 38th.
“With so many bad things happening in Pakistan, like terrorism and floods, I think today we have given our countrymen something to smile about,” Abbas, 35, said.
Indian runners won both 400-meter hurdles at the Asian Games track, with Abraham Ganapathiplackal taking gold in the men’s race and Ashwini Akkunji the women’s.
Earlier, world champion Nicol Davis won her second gold medal, leading Malaysia to a 2-0 win over Hong Kong in the team squash event. David beat Wing Chi in straight games — 11-8, 11-7, 11-6 — to add another gold to her singles title last week.
Kazakhstan took the men’s water polo gold with a 7-6 win over China, while Japan easily won the bronze with a 19-5 victory over South Korea.
And proving that age cannot stop him, 48-year-old Koo Yu Fat, the oldest player in the water polo competition, refused to retire after his team lost to Saudi Arabia 20-11 in the match for seventh place.
“I will play a few more years, I will play until I can’t,” said Koo, who has played at four Asian Games and four Asian championships.