China topped the 100 mark in the gold medal tally at the Asian
Games on Saturday but their ambitious men's soccer team lost a
bloody penalty shootout to Iran in the quarter-finals.
China won a total of eight gold medals, taking their gold medal
count to 103. The 100th gold came from the women's synchronized
swimming team, who upset three-time champion Japan.
But with so many gold medals, Chinese top officials, felt
unsatisfied because few golds are of world class.
"We have many gold medals, but most were won in competition far
below the world top level," deputy chef de mission Duan Shijie
said.
Head coach Ratomir Dujkovic, who had vowed to take the Chinese
under-23 team to win at least a silver, witnessed his side
eliminated by Iran 8-7 in a humiliating and heartbreaking way.
The two sides were 1-1 at the end of the 90 minutes and still
deadlocked at 2-2 after the extra time.
Iran opened the scoring in the 39th minute. Borhani Arash got
the ball from a long through cross, broke through Chinese defense
and scored after bypassing Chinese goalkeeper Wang Dalei.
Borhani stopped the ball on the line with his back to goal and
beckoned his teammates over before tapping the ball in. Referee
Alghafary Naser from Jordan turned a blind eye to this ugly
scene.
In the other quarter-final matches, Iraq beat Uzbekistan 2-1,
host Qatar defeated Thailand and South Korea eliminated DPR Korea
3-0. Iraq will face South Korea and Qatar to take on Iran in the
semifinals.
Zhou Chunxiu broke China's 16-year Asian Games marathon gold
drought to win the women's 42.195km race. Shot-putter Li Ling upset
veteran teammate Li Meiju to give China the day's second athletics
gold medal.
Saudi Arabia's Hassan Yahya Habeeb became Asia's fastest men
after winning the 100m in a modest time of 13.32 seconds.
Uzbekistan's Guzel Khubbieva was crowned as the continent's fastest
woman by winning the women's 100m in 11.27.
Lin Dan, nicknamed "Super Dan", who beat defending champion
Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia twice in the team event singles, lost
their third clash in the men's badminton singles final.
Gao Ling and Huangsui defeated Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen in an
all-Chinese women's doubles final, taking only China's second
individual badminton title. No Chinese shuttlers entered the finals
in the men's doubles and women's singles, which were won by
Malaysia and Hong Kong of China respectively.
Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin's giant-killing run was put to an end as
the 19-year-old succumbed to teammate Wang Chen 21-14, 22-20 in the
women's singles final.
Olympic champion Luo Wei beat Jordan's Alaa Kutkut to claim the
women's 72kg taekwondo top honor. Tan Xue defeated her teammate
Zhao Yuanyuan to win the women's individual sabre gold medal.
Elsewhere, China took away the day's both cycling gold medals,
with Feng Yong winning the men's 1km time trial and Guo Shuang
claiming the women's 500m time trial.
Doping has reared its ugly head as Myanmar's Than Kyi Kyi, a
former world champion who finished fourth on Dec. 2 in the 48kg
class weightlifting, was tested positive to the banned diuretic
furosemide in the first doping case in the Doha Games.
"After due consideration and after listening to her submission,
the OCA disciplinary commission recommended that this athlete has
committed an anti-doping violation and should be disqualified from
the competition," said Husain Al Musallam, Olympic Council of Asia
director general.
With six days to go, China tops the medal standings with 103
golds, 59 silvers and 30 bronzes, while Japan remains second in a
33-41-47 record and South Korea is third with 27-33-57.
Kazakhstan stays at fourth with 15-10-27 and Chinese Taipei has
risen to fifth with 7-4-13.
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(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2006)