Saudi Arabia’s Sharbatly rides to gold; doping cases overshadow Games

INCHEON: Doping controversies overshadowed the Asian Games on Tuesday as North and South Korea set up an explosive men’s football final and uproar greeted some contentious boxing decisions.
Malaysia’s Tai Cheau Xuen was stripped of her wushu gold medal and Iraqi superheavyweight weightlifter Mohammed Al Aifuri was also caught as doping cases ticked up to four. It was the Iraqi’s second offense in six years.
Malaysia said they would appeal the ruling against Tai, without giving details of how it would be fought. A Tajik footballer and a Cambodian soft tennis player were expelled for doping earlier.
Doping was not the only controversy. Boxing judges found themselves in the spotlight over a series of decisions that went in favor of South Korean fighters.
The husband of Indian lightweight Sarita Devi launched an expletive-laden tirade and tangled with security after South Korea’s Park Ji-Na was controversially awarded their semifinal bout.
Mongolia’s male bantamweight Tugstsogt Nyambayar contentiously lost a decision against Ham Sang-Myeong, prompting a brief sit-in protest and an official complaint.
Later, Indian light flyweight Devendro Singh Laishram looked well on top against Shin Jong-Hun but the South Korean was handed their quarterfinal on a unanimous points verdict.
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) said it was not possible to appeal judges’ decisions.
“This is a very sad day. We want to see fair play in sport,” Mongolia’s chef de mission Badmaanyambuu Bat Erdene said.
Xie Wenjun cemented his status as the heir to China’s former Olympic champion and ex-world record-holder Liu Xiang when he won the 110m hurdles in 13.36sec.
Li Jinzhe won the men’s long jump and Li Ling took out the women’s pole vault as China enjoyed a positive evening at the near-empty, 62,000-seat Incheon Main Stadium.
Saudi Arabia claimed just its second gold in Incheon when Abdullah Waleed Al Sharbatly won the equestrian individual jumping event.
Al Sharbatly finished level with Japan’s Satoshi Hirao after both had successive clear rounds. In the jump-off, Al Sharbatly had another clear and got the gold when Hirao dropped a bar and incurred a penalty.
“It’s a great feeling to win a medal. There’s nothing better than winning the gold,” said Al Sharbtly, who won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics.
“I was expecting the jump-off after seeing the second round. They made the course a bit bigger than other competitions.” In football, North Korea’s Jong Il-Gwan curled in the extra-time free-kick that downed Iraq 1-0 but he will miss the men’s final after being sent off shortly afterwards.
South Korea joined them in Thursday’s highly anticipated final, between two countries officially still at war, when they beat Thailand 2-0 in the last four.
Another bitter Asian rivalry will play out in the hockey final when defending champions Pakistan take on India following their semifinal wins on Tuesday.
The Pakistanis, who failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup, were in tears after their thrilling 6-5 win on penalties against Malaysia.
“God is great,” said their coach Shahnaz Sheikh. “It should be a very good final against India. We will be ready for them.” The judging row at the boxing overshadowed a positive day for India’s five-time women’s world champion Mary Kom, who reached her first Asian Games final.
China’s divers pushed their bid for a perfect 10-title haul when Chen Ruolin and Liu Hiuxia won the women’s synchronized 10m platform and Cao Yuan and Lin Yue followed suit in the men’s 3m springboard.
And China’s peerless table tennis players took the first two golds at the Games when they combined to win the men’s and women’s team titles.
Iran won three gold medals, two in Greco-Roman wrestling and another in track and field when Ehsan Hadadi won his third straight Asian Games title in discus.
South Korea won 10 gold medals on Tuesday to take its total to 54 with four days of competition left, still way behind China, which has 126, and 268 in total.
As expected, China completed a sweep of the synchronized diving events by winning the men’s 3-meter springboard and women’s 10-meter platform finals.
China also won the women’s team table tennis title and both cross-country mountain bike races, Wang Zhen pedaling to victory in the men’s and Shi Qinglan in the women’s.
Qiang Wang of China won the women’s tennis singles title, beating Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 6-3 7-6 (7-5) while Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka upset top seed Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2 in the men’s gold medal match.