China’s pool domination continues

Gold medals keep coming for China’s squad as it increases lead at the top of the medals table at the Asian Games.

Tingmao (L) and Minxia bagged gold in the synchronised 3m springboard event [REUTERS]

China began its customary dominance of the diving events at the Asian Games with four-time Olympic gold medalist Wu Minxi and Shi Tingmao winning the women’s synchronised 3-metre springboard, with Malaysia taking silver and North Korea bronze.

Chen Aisen and Zhang Yanquan won the men’s 10m platform synchronised event over South Korea and Malaysia.

Medals table (Top-5)
   G  S  B  Total 
1China 1127254238
2S Korea445052146
3Japan354750132
4Kazakhstan 15162253
5Iran 1011829

Qatar striking gold

It was a good day for Qatar in the track and field events asi high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim wrapped up a dramatic season with gold.

Barshim won with a leap of 2.35 meters, a new games mark but well short of the Asian record of 2.43 he set this month in Belgium.

Zhang Guowei of China took silver with a jump of 2.33, and Barshim’s younger brother, Muamer Aissa, earned bronze with 2.25.

Abubaker Ali Kamal of Qatar won the men’s 3,000 steeplechase in eight minutes, 28.72 seconds, his best result since returning to the track this year after serving a two-year ban for using the banned performance booster EPO.

Olympic bronze medalist Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain won her third consecutive Asian Games gold in the women’s 1,500 in 4:09.90, with defending Asian Games 5,000 champion Mimi Belete Gebregeiorges second in 4:11.03.

Men’s 5,000 champion Mohamad al Garni of Qatar added gold in the men’s 1,500 in 3:40.23, with defending champion Rasheed Ramzi of Bahrain only 0.72 behind and Danan Almntfage of Iraq in third at 3:42.50.

Maria Natalia Londa won Indonesia’s first Asian Games athletics gold since 1998 with a personal best of 6.55 meters in the women’s long jump.

Indian success

In her first Asian Games appearance, Seema Punia of India won the women’s discus with a throw of 61.03 meters, followed by Chinese teammates Lu Xiaoxin and Tan Jian.

Ekaterina Voronina of Uzbekistan won the women’s heptathlon with a score of 5,912 points, followed by Wang Qingling of China and Uzbek teammate Yuliya Tarasova.

In other sports, two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China showed he remains a major force in world badminton with a successful defence of his Asian Games men’s singles title, defeating Chinese teammate Chen Long 2-1 in the final.

Source: AP