p17 2_Layout 1 9/27/14 10:22 PM Page 1 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2014 SPORTS Medals Table INCHEON: Yesterday’s Asian Games medals table (gold, silver, bronze, total): China 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: Badminton 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 steeplechase 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 Lin Dan as Indonesia’s world final in Guangzhou, 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 Nguyen Tien Minh, 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 Kenichi Tago 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 Lee Chong Wei 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.