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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2014 SPORTS

Medals Table

INCHEON: Yesterday’s medals table (gold, silver, bronze, total): 96 57 41 194 Indonesia 1 3 6 10 South Korea 35 42 40 117 Kuwait 1 3 2 6 Japan 32 43 38 113 Thailand 1 0 10 11 Kazakhstan 9 10 18 37 Pakistan 1 0 1 2 North Korea 8 8 9 25 UAE 1 0 1 2 Iran 6 7 6 19 Tajikistan 1 0 0 1 Taiwan 5 4 8 17 Macau 0 3 0 3 Hong Kong 4 5 18 27 Philippines 0 2 2 4 Mongolia 4 3 8 15 Turkmenistan 0 1 2 3 Malaysia 3 6 7 16 Bahrain 0 1 1 2 India 3 4 19 26 Kyrgyzstan 0 1 1 2 Qatar 3 0 1 4 Laos 0 1 1 2 Myanmar 2 0 0 2 Bangladesh 0 1 0 1 Vietnam 1 6 20 27 Lebanon 0 1 0 1 Uzbekistan 1 4 8 13 Iraq 0 0 1 1 Singapore 1 3 7 11 Sri Lanka 0 0 1 1 Lee battles back to set up Lin showdown

INCHEON: number one Lee 2013 world championship finals. Lin INCHEON: Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet (center) looks on as China’s Li Zhenzhu (left) and India’ s Lalita Shivaji Babar (right) stand on the podium at the Chong Wei fought back from a game leads their head-to-head 22-9. The last medal ceremony of the final of the women’s 3,000m athletics event during the 17th Asian Games. —AFP down yesterday to set up a new clash time they met was in the dramatic 2013 with arch-rival as Indonesia’s world final in , where Lee lost Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda in three games, collapsing during the Maheswari turned giantkillers again in third in an overheated stadium. Bahrain runner stripped the Asian Games women’s doubles. Lee lost this year’s worlds final to Lin’s Lee had to dig deep to beat Vietnam’s Chinese team-mate, 25-year-old Chen , 21-23, 21-16, 21-17 in Long, who beat the Malaysian in the of athletics gold medal the men’s singles quarter final. He gets men’s team semi-final in Incheon. Chen his latest chance against China’s Lin in meets Hong Kong’s Wei Nan in the other the semi-final today. singles semi today. INCHEON: Teenaged Bahrain steeplechaser “Today I didn’t play so well,” Lee said Ruth Jebet was dramatically stripped of gold just after the gruelling match which saw the HISTORY FOR INDONESIA before she mounted the podium yesterday as sweat-drenched players changing their Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda the Asian Games athletics started in a storm of shirts and frequently towelling their Maheswari destroyed Japanese favorites controversy. faces. and world number three Ayaka The Kenya-born runner comfortably won but After squandering a 12-4 lead Lee Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo to take as she stood behind the podium, with China’s Li finally took the deciding game after two the women’s doubles title 21-15, 21-9. Zhenzhu and India’s Lalita Babar already wearing crucial shots bounced back off the net The seventh seeds became the first their medals, her disqualification was announced to the stunned stadium. The 17-year- cord for Nguyen. Indonesians to win the Asiad women’s old was led away in tears and China’s Li celebrat- Olympic champion Lin later eased doubles title since 1978. The Indonesians ed her sudden promotion to gold, giving the through 21-14, 21-18 against Japan’s had already pulled off a shock semi-final double thumbs-up and posing with her national to set up the latest install- defeat of China’s defending champions flag. Jebet had annihilated the Games record by ment in the gripping badminton rivalry. Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing, the world and more than 24 seconds but officials saw that on Long-time number one Lee has fre- Olympic title holders. her last lap, with nobody nearby, she stumbled quently been undone by Lin on the big “Our coach told us before the match: and stepped inside the track. stage and the 31-year-old is now making don’t lose hope, don’t lose courage. Keep Bahraini officials fumed over the decision, his last attempt at winning Asian Games playing and playing until you win the with one calling it a “disgrace”. They descended gold. game,” said an ecstatic Polii. “It’s very en masse on the referees’ office, before later con- “Before I went out on court I heard hard to beat someone who never gives ceding Jebet’s error. It made for a stormy end to had told Chinese up, and we never give up.” a first night of athletics when Africa-born ath- reporters that he had lost many games The women’s singles final today is a letes dominated the opening track events. Along with Jebet, who switched nationality CHINA: This file photo taken on November 18, 2010 shows Japan’s swimmer Naoya Tomita before against me, so he has nothing to Chinese head-to-head between Li Xuerui waving after winning gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke final. —AFP lose,” said Lin. and Wang Yihan, while Korean men’s last year, United Arab Emirates’ Ethiopian-origin “I don’t know when I or Lee Chong doubles gold medal favourites Lee Yong- Alia Saeed Mohammed crossed first in the expelled from the Games. to deliver to other countries seeking to host the Wei will retire, so I cherish every opportu- Dae and Yoo Yeon-Seong take on women’s 10,000m. South Korean prosecutors are now consider- Asiad,” Kwon said. nity to play against him.” Lin beat Lee in Indonesia’s Hendra Setiawan and “This is the most awesome day of my life,” she ing whether to press charges and Tomita will “Unlike previous Asian Games seen as a par- the Asian Games final four years ago, one Mohammad Ahsan in their final. Chinese said. Qatar’s Mohamad Al-Garni, originally from have to pay for his own ticket back to Japan ty for sports powerhouses, we are trying to of many major victories, including in the players are against Indonesians in both Morocco, smashed a 20-year-old Games record when allowed to leave, officials said. make an event shared by small countries,” he as he won the men’s 5,000m ahead of Bahrain’s last two Olympic finals and the 2011 and mixed doubles semi-finals today. —AFP “I want offer my sincerest apologies that such said. Japan loosened China’s hold on the men’s Alemu Bekele Gebre and Albert Kibichii Rop. a regrettable incident has happened amid the basketball, an event it has ruled with the likes Li’s officially confirmed elevation to steeple- excitement of the Asian Games,” said Japan’s of Yao Ming, with a 79-72 upset which left the chase gold would make her the second Chinese chef de mission Tsuyoshi Aoki. champions on the verge of elimination. winner of the night after Gong Lijiao triumphed Tomita joined a list of expulsions which also Veteran badminton stars Lee Chong Wei in the women’s shot-put. includes two athletes who failed drugs tests and and Lin Dan set up a crunch semi-final clash in And it was a momentous night for Iran when an Iranian official who sexually harassed a volun- what looks likely to be one of their last Leyla Rajabi took silver behind Li to become the teer. Domestic media have laid into organisers encounters on the big stage. Islamic republic’s first Asian Games athletics over the Games’ organisation and low ticket “I don’t know when I or Lee Chong Wei will medal-winner. sales, with many venues starkly empty over the retire, so I cherish every opportunity to play opening week. against him,” said China’s Olympic champion POOLSIDE PILFERING But organising committee chief Kwon Lin, 30. The athletics got underway in a near-empty Kyung-Sang told AFP the aim was to hold a Among today’s highlights, South Korea and stadium after the Games confronted a new non low-cost Games that will put Incheon on the Japan meet in the men’s football quarter- sport controversy. Japanese swimmer Naoya map and won’t overburden it with debt. finals in a repeat of their explosive London Tomita, 25, admitted stealing a $7,500 photogra- “The Asiad must be held in a very efficient Olympics medal-decider which ended in a pher’s camera from the pool deck and was and economical way. This a message we want political row. —AFP India to play Korea in semis

INCHEON: Sloppy India scored twice in the third quarter to overcame China 2-0 yesterday and set up a tough Asian Games field hockey semi-final against hosts South Korea. Defending champions Pakistan will take on Malaysia in Tuesday’s other semi-final in a repeat of the title clash four years ago in Guangzhou. India, seeking their first Asiad title since 1998, were kept at bay by the Chinese till V. Raghunath converted a penalty corner in the 40th minute and Birendra Lakra scored the second goal five minutes later. Pakistan ended pool B with their fourth successive win, an 8- 0 rout of Oman that featured two goals apiece from Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Irfan and Abdul Khan. Malaysia clinched the second spot behind the Koreans in pool A with a cru- cial 4-1 win over Japan in which Razi Rahim netted two goals. Four-time INCHEON: Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia reaches for a shot from Minh Tien Nguyen of champions South Korea blanked Vietnam during his men’s singles qualifying badminton match of the 2014 Incheon Bangladesh 7-0 to top the pool with an INCHEON: China’s Dong Yang (right) dribbles past India’s Dharamvir singh during their men’s field Asian Games. —AFP all-win record. —AFP hockey match at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium during the 17th Asian Games. —AFP Trio battling for world record in

BERLIN: With three of the fastest men in made no bones about his intentions. “I’m Geoffrey Mutai. championships. At 27, Kebede already Kenyan runner, Geoffrey Kamworor. Only history over the distance in the field, ready, my preparation has been good He has the added advantage of has considerable success under his belt, 21, he was third last year and in March today’s Berlin Marathon has every and I’m full of confidence,” he said. “If the knowing the Berlin streets well from his having won six of the 18 he took the world half-marathon title. chance of seeing yet another world conditions are right, we can break the days of pounding the asphalt in the half- has run, finished second three times and There seems little likelihood, though, record set. world record.” marathon, which he won and then broke lifted an Olympic bronze medal in 2008 of a record in the women’s race and Kenyan runners Dennis Kimetto and Kimetto’s pedigree is clear as he has the world 25km record by more than and a world championship gold four Paula Radcliffe’s London 2003 mark of Emmanuel Mutai, along with ’s already run close to a record time with half-a-minute with a run of 71min 18sec years later. 2:15:25 looks safe. The main aim of the Tsegaye Kebede are all capable of lower- his 2:03:45 on his way to victory in in 2012. “I heard about the Berlin course from leading runners in the field will be to ing the world best when they cross the Chicago last year, his second success of Mutai, 31, is the fourth fastest man Haile (Gebreselassie) and I’ve always finally break the 2min 20sec mark. finishing line at the Brandenburg Gate. the season after his triumph in Tokyo. over the distance, Kimetto close wanted to run here,” said Kebede, hop- Ethiopian training partners Feyse Tadese The 40 editions of the race so far have He burst on to the marathon scene in in Chicago last year, before tasting victo- ing to follow in the footsteps of his illus- (2:21:06) and Tirfi Tsegaye (2:21:19.), already seen the last five world records Berlin 2012, making the step up from ry in his own right in London. trious compatriot, who won the race have both run close, while American set along the course, the latest being last half-marathon to the full distance and He also knows the streets of the twice. runner Shalane Flanaghan, whose per- year’s 2hr 03min 23sec by another defying the odds by finishing runner-up, German capital well enough, after win- Another man with the potential to sonal best is 2:22:02, is aiming for a US Kenyan, Wilson Kipsang. Kimetto, 30, just a second behind compatriot ning a silver medal in the 2009 world gatecrash the Berlin party is young national record. —AFP