China surpasses 1998 gold total
War-torn Afghanistan won its first
medal of the Asian Games in 20 years on Saturday as judging controversies plagued day 13.
Afghanistan, making a return to the international
sporting fold at the Games, had taekwondo protagonist Roia
Zamani - and the luck of the draw - to thank for earning a
bronze.
Zamani, a 23-year-old English teacher from Kabul, was
guaranteed the medal after being handed a bye into the
semi-finals of the women's middleweight category without even
having to fight.
Defeat to her Korean opponent in the last four could not
deflect from the pride of earning Afghanistan's one and only
medal of the Games.
"It is just a first step for women in Afghanistan. We
have just started by coming to the Asian Games. They should
follow us," she said.
She said the Afghans were not fully prepared because they
started from scratch only one year ago after the Taliban's
overthrow.
"But next time, I am sure we'll be more prepared. My next
target is to continue taekwondo and one day to be the winner
of the whole world," she said with a smile.
For the second day running, the taekwondo tournament -- like boxing -- was at the centre of a judging controversy, with Iranian team members accusing officials of favouring Korean
fighters.
"It's not a fair play. Why do we have the same referee
arrangements when we fight South Koreans?" shouted Iran head
coach Gholam Hassan Zolghadri after Yossef Karami lost to
Korea's Olympic champion Kim Kyong-Hun 7-6.
"Are all the gold medals for Korea?" he added.
The
Iranians did not, however, lodge an official protest.
Today's boxing semi-finals meanwhile saw a disastrous day
for Thailand, with star fighters Suban Pannon and Manon
Boonjumnong being eliminated.
Thailand's Cuban coach Ismael Salas, who has been one of
the most vocal critics of judging in the boxing tournament,
had no complaints with the defeats however.
The same could not be said for 20-year-old Syrian
heavyweight Naser Alshami, who exited bawling in his corner
with a section of the gallery jeering and shouting at the
judges.
In the women's athlet to Chinese
5,000 metres runner Sun Yingjie. Sun, a former member of the same
club as controversial Chinese coach Ma Junren, served notice
she will break the 5,000m world record next season after
nudging the mark.
The 23-year-old with an unorthodox running style, she
keeps both arms almost straight down, produced one of the
outstanding track performances at the Games with a solo bid
for the record.
Running just four days after winning the 10,000 metres final
Sun stormed away after a slow first three laps, and at one
stage opened up a near-100m lead as she went on to shatter the
Games record by more than a minute.
In the tennis tournament, gold went as expected to
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the men's singles. Srichaphan, who has beaten some of the world's best, gave Thailand the gold medal it
sought.
While the Thais, with 10 golds in all, are in a contest
with India for fifth in the medals race, China pushed its gold total above the 129 it won four years ago in Bangkok, winning four of the day's eight canoeing races.
China also gained golds through women's hammer thrower
Gu Yuan and cross country cyclist Ma Yanping.
That lifted China's total to 139 gold medals. In all, 419
are at stake in these Games, which end Monday. The 1998 Games
had 378 gold medals.
The Chinese advanced to the gold medal game in women's
basketball with a 92-69 victory over Japan.
South Korea lifted its total to 77, and reclaimed its
Asian Games men's hockey field hockey title from defending
champion India with a 4-3 victory.
It also gained golds in women's team handball, the
Chinese martial art of wushu and women's doubles tennis, where
Kim Mi-ok and Choi Young-ja beat Indonesia's Wynne Adiati
Prakusya and Angelique Widjaja 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3.
Japan improved to 42, incurring no penalty faults en
route to gold in the equestrian team show jumping.
Myanmar won its first gold of the Games, in wushu.