TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 SPORTS

China defend with a new ‘Great Wall’

INCHEON: are hoping a new version banned their standout US import, the 6ft of their famous “Great Wall of China” can 11in (2.11m) , a former star help maintain their basketball with the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. The centre, dominance as they come under heavy who became a naturalized Filipino in June, attack from rivals.China, with players like did not meet a three-year residency towering NBA superstar , have requirement, the Games Organizing won seven of the last nine men’s gold Committee ruled. Despite the blow, the medals stretching back to their first tri- Philippines still harbor realistic medal umph in in 1978. But since their chances having brought in the 2.10 meter 2010 Asiad victory on home soil in (6ft 11in) , another US-born , China have seen the retire- naturalized Filipino, as a replacement for ment of Yao, and have also lost former NBA Blatche. , ranked 20th by FIBA, are players and . potentially the surprise package of the tour- Now, under threat from hosts South nament and rated by many observers as Korea, Iran and the Philippines, they arrive favorites. Their main weapon is the former in with two of the Games’ tallest NBA star Hamed Haddadi and players who can forge a reputation of their team-mate Mohamed Samad Nikkhah own. , 18, will tower over the oppo- Bahrami was in confident mood as the team sition at 2.17 meters (7ft 1 1/2in), while prepared in . “We are going to win is equally intimidating at 2.14 the Asian Games for the first time. Without a meters (7ft 1/4in). They are among the doubt, the Iranian basketball team will par- players drafted in as part of China’s rebuild- ticipate in the Asian Games to win the gold ing program under coach Gong Liuming medal,” he said, according to the Tehran after their defeat to at last Times. The basketball tournament will be year’s FIBA Asian Championship. split between the 7,406-seater Samsan Only five players of the 12-man 2013 World Gymnasium and the 5,5158-seat Asian Championship squad have been Hwaseong Sports Complex. There are 16 selected for Incheon. China, 12th in world teams in the men’s competition and 11 in governing body FIBA’s rankings, have the women’s. Eight men’s teams-China, INCHEON: South Korean weightlifter Seo Jeong-Mi competes during the women’s 58kg group A at the Moonlight Festival Garden Weightlifting reached the final at every Asian Games South Korea, Iran, Japan, Qatar, Philippines, Venue yesterday. — AFP since their first win 36 years ago, but on the Jordan and Taiwan-are seeded straight last occasion South Korea hosted the Asiad, through to the 12-nation group stage in in 2002, the host nation pipped which begins on September 23. Before then Commotion as North Korean China to the prize with a dramatic 102-100 the eight unseeded nations-Mongolia, overtime victory. Among their squad that Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, day was centre Kim Joo-Sung. Now 34, the , Palestine, India and the Maldives- lifters break record in South 6ft 9in (2.05m) talisman is only survivor will fight it out in a qualifying competition. from that golden generation and will be The women’s tournament has been hit INCHEON: The exuberant antics of North Korea’s been happy to exploit. First on Saturday it was Om with several in the stands and riot police and police looking for a glittering swansong. by a clash of dates for the leading nations record-breaking weightlifters are causing a stir at Yun-Chol, 5ft 0in (1.50m) and weighing just under commandos outside the venue. South Korean fans Kim first took part in the Games 16 years with the FIBA women’s world champi- the Asian Games as they are cheered on by pro-uni- 56kg, who got the party started by breaking his have already been warned they face arrest if they ago as a gangly teenager, taking home a sil- onship, starting in Turkey this weekend. It fication supporters with the police turning up en own world record, leaping high to punch the air in breach the strict National Security Law at the Asian ver medal as Korea lost in the final to China means China, winner of the last three golds, masse. With rock music blaring and the crowd on its celebration and milking the applause. Games by waving North Korean flags. Nevertheless, and was forced to settle second again four and Japan will send only ‘B’ teams to feet and dancing, North Korea’s often stern athletes Then on Sunday another flamboyant pocket- the cheerleaders’ enthusiasm was infectious and the years ago by the same opposition.He has Incheon. South Korea, however, are going are the unlikely stars as they whip up a concert rocket, London Olympic gold medallist Kim Un-Guk, rest of the crowd, and especially the athletes, were enjoyed a resurgence in form this year in all-out for home gold and will send their atmosphere, coincidentally on the site of the huge smashed world records three times in claiming gold quickly caught up in the atmosphere. the (KBL), averag- second string to Turkey. The women’s event, three-day annual Pentaport rock festival in Incheon, in the men’s 62kg. In the crowd, the Ariran Tongil Om, however, soon cooled it and after saluting South Korea. In front of the media, it’s a different (Korea unification) Cheerleading Squad, who have as the North’s anthem was played at his gold medal ing 12 points and more than 25 minutes on which begins on September 23, has six story as the weightlifters carefully stick to the party pledged to support all North Korean athletes at the ceremony, he was firmly back on-message at his court per game. The basketball-mad seeded teams-China, South Korea, Taiwan, line and confine themselves to thanking the com- Games, led the raucous applause. “We are one. You press conference. Asked what was his first thought Philippines won the first of their four , Japan and India-who automatical- munist state’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-Un. are one of us,” they chanted in Korean, as each lifter after he lifted more than three times his body- straight Asian Games championships in ly qualify for the quarter-finals. The five With a large North Korean delegation making a from north of the heavily fortified border took to weight to set a new world record, he said: “I thought 1951, but have only managed one silver unseeded teams-Mongolia, Hong Kong, rare trip south for the Games, political sensitivities the stage. On Sunday, shouts of “Kim Un-Guk, Kim of Kim Jong-Un.” and two bronzes since-their last coming in Kazakhstan, Nepal and Qatar play in a pre- are raw between two ideologically opposed coun- Un-Guk” rang around the arena as they held up “With our leader Kim Jong-un’s teachings in 1998. Their hopes of ending that 16-year liminary round to decide the other two tries which remain technically at war. The weightlift- placards proclaiming “Kim Un-Guk is the best” in mind, I pledged to do my best,” he added. “I wanted barren run were dented when organizers quarter-finalists. — AFP ing, a North Korean forte, has attracted a vocal Korean. to break the record, and I worked hard to bring suc- group of red-clad cheerleaders yelling support for One cheerleader, Ha Jun-Tae, who described cess to Kim Jong-un.” Kim also stuck to the script on their “brothers”-as well as police wary of skirmishes himself as a local government official said: “We are Sunday. “Everybody aspires to a world record,” Kim with rival activists. It has made for a heady mix at here to support North Korean athletes because they said. “But it is all thanks to love and care by General Incheon’s Moonlight Festival Garden arena, and an are our brothers.” By the second day of the competi- Kim Jong-Un. “Only athletes like me can bear the atmosphere the visiting North Korean lifters have tion on Sunday, police had descended in numbers national flag in their bosom.” — AFP Pakistan squash star raises voice for equality

INCHEON: As a child Maria Toorpakay Wazir had to same region. But Pakistan’s number one women’s squash player dress as a boy to be able to play sport in Pakistan and As a child in the deeply conservative tribal area, believes the tide cannot now be turned back. now as the country’s number one women’s squash Toorpakay trained and competed as a boy. Girls were Toorpakay said her rise in international squash should player she says there is still too much resistance. forbidden in sport. Competing without a veil and in be an example to other young women in Pakistan. “I Toorpakay, competing at the Asian Games in South shorts was perceived as un-Islamic and the have to give them the same opportunity so that they Korea, vowed not to stop helping girls in Pakistan Toorpakays were threatened. Toorpakay at first com- become champions too,” she said. Toorpakay turned overcome discrimination and cultural obstacles even peted in weightlifting, frequently beating the boys at professional in 2006 and came third in the World though she has received threats for her work. “I feel tournaments. But her father made her switch to Junior Women’s Championship in 2009. “This is a that this is my responsibility,” said Toorpakay after she squash, where her gender was discovered. After being beautiful sport, and today I feel that God has given me was beaten by Hong Kong’s Annie Au in the women’s required to produce a birth certificate to play squash a chance to come up to such position,” she said. She singles late Sunday. “I have to raise my voice for the at the age of 16, the truth about Toorpakay came out vowed to help Pakistan’s women to emerge from the other girls.” Toorpakay’s family comes from Waziristan, and she was bullied by other players. Toorpakay said shadows through sport, saying it had helped her over- the lawless tribal area in northwest Pakistan bordering Pakistan is changing-but very slowly. “Always there are come her tough life in one of the world’s most danger- Afghanistan. Malala Yousafzai, the acclaimed people who do support this logic but there are people ous regions. “Squash is my lord and I’ve worked so teenaged activist for girls’ education, comes from the who still resist this logic,” she said. hard to get to this position,” she said. — AFP China shoot to world record after disqualification drama

INCHEON: China’s women set a world record in the where Iranian teenager Najmeh Khedmati won gold the Iranian team, who had been declared winners pri- INCHEON: Japan’s Yuya Yoshida (top) competes with Uzbekistan’s Dilshod Choriev Asian Games’ 10m air rifle team event yesterday after ahead of her friend and team-mate Narjes or to the appeal, had to settle for the silver with a (bottom) in the men’s -90kg judo final match yesterday. — AFP one of their shooters was disqualified but then rein- Emamgholinejad. “I was very sad when I was told I score of 1,245.9. South Korea took the bronze with stated following a heated appeal. , Wu Liuxi was disqualified, but my team-mates and coaches 1,241.6. and Zhang Binbin combined to score 1,253.8 points- backed me and said they would appeal,” she told just 0.1 points ahead of the previous mark of 1,253.7, reporters. “I just needed to control my emotions ‘We respect the decision’ Japan swim king Hagino also set by China, at the Asian shooting champi- going into the final.” But Iran hit back with a one-two in the individual onships in Tehran last year. Organizers declined to reveal reasons for the U- event as Khedmati, 18, beat a strong field including completes golden treble But China nearly missed out on both the gold turn by the jury, but one shooting official said the dis- reigning world and Olympic champion Yi Siling, who medal and the world record when Zhang was dis- qualification may have been due to a technical error. finished fifth. Khedmati and Emamgholinejad warmly qualified for shooting with a heavier rifle during the “I am just guessing, but it is possible the weight of hugged each other after the final, but played down INCHEON: Japan’s Kosuke Hagino fol- since 2006 by winning the 200m qualification round. She was eventually allowed to the rifle had been wrongly calculated,” the official, any suggestions that they had been robbed of the lowed his shock 200 meters freestyle breaststroke in a meet record time of compete after judges upheld her team’s vehement who did not want to be named, told AFP. The rein- team gold. “We respect the decision of the jury,” gold by adding titles in the 200m indi- 2:21.82, touching out countrywoman appeal, a lengthy process which delayed the individ- statement meant disappointment for Singapore, who Khedmati said. “We always play according to the vidual medley and the men’s 4x200m Rie Kaneto, who clocked 2:21.92. ual final for 30 minutes. A relieved Zhang then went were in the bronze medal position before the Chinese rules. The whole team is happy we won a gold and freestyle relay at the Asian Games yes- China’s Shi Jinglin took bronze in on to win a bronze medal in the individual event, appeal was upheld but had to settle for fourth. And two silvers today.” —AFP terday. After stunning heavyweights 2:23.58 behind the Japanese pair, who Sun Yang and Park Tae-Hwan on the finished in the same one-two order at opening day of swimming, Hagino pul- the Pan Pacific meeting in Gold Coast. verized the opposition to win the 200m An explosive start helped Japan’s Junya medley in an Asian record of one Koga retain the men’s 50m backstroke minute, 55.34 seconds. title in a new Games record of 24.28, Hagino, 20, who scored a pulsating edging out compatriot Ryosuke Irie victory over Michael Phelps at last (24.98), who had already captured the month’s Pan Pacific championships, 100m title, and China’s Xu Jiayu (25.24). won by more than three seconds from Junior world record-holder Shen Duo Japanese team-mate Hiromasa Fujimori won the women’s 100m freestyle for at the Incheon arena named after China in 54.37, short of the junior mark of South Korean star Park. 53.84 she posted at the recent Youth He swam the second leg as Japan Olympics. won the 4x200m freestyle relay in a Team-mate and defending champion new Games record of 7:06.74 - almost Tang Yi took silver in 54.45 with Japan’s 10 seconds clear of a China quartet Miki Uchida third in 54.66. China’s Asian missing Sun, who hurt his thumb in record-holder Lu Ying set a new Games Sunday’s 200m final. Japan finished the record of 25.83 to win the women’s 50m second day of competition in the pool butterfly title ahead of Singapore’s Tao Li with a 7-5 lead in gold medals over (26.28) and countrywoman Liu Lan powerhouse China. (26.72). Japan and China had split the six Hagino faces China’s reigning gold medals three apiece on the opening Olympic champion Sun and 2008 day on Sunday. China have dominated Olympic gold medallist Park again in the Asian Games swimming in recent INCHEON: Silver medalists Najmah Khedmat (left), Narjes Emamgholinejad Andevari (2nd left) and Elaheh Ahmadi (3rd left) of Iran, gold Tuesday’s 400m freestyle. Kanako years, winning 24 of the 38 golds at medalists Zhang Binbin (4th left), Yi Siling () and Wu Liuxi (4th right) of China, and bronze medalists Kim Seola (3rd right), Kim Gae-nam Watanabe became Japan’s first female Guangzhou in 2010, with Japan finishing (2nd right) and Jeong Mira of South Korea pose on the podium with their medals during the awards ceremony for the women’s 10m air rifle Asian Games swimming champion a distant second with nine. — AFP team final yesterday. — AFP