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Hangzhou, China: Defending champions Japan withstood a fierce fightback from hosts China to advance to the Asian Games women’s football final against North Korea on Tuesday, while an athlete previously banned for doping won the gold medal.
At the end of the first half, the Japanese team led 4-1, silencing the Hangzhou fans, while the Chinese players walked into the locker room. The Japanese team had already stepped one foot into the final.
But the Chinese team, made up of players who had participated in the recent World Cup, refused to give up easily and tied the score to 4-3 with half an hour left in the game, staging a wonderful final.
But Japan stayed focused, kept its composure and held on for the win, setting up a gold medal match against North Korea on Friday.
In the day’s other semifinal, North Korea beat Uzbekistan 8-0 in a repeat of the 2014 final, with striker Kim Kyung-yong scoring four goals.
On the fifth day of athletics, Bahraini athlete Kemi Adekoya, who was stripped of his 2018 title for doping, won the 400m hurdles gold medal.
The 30-year-old won the Incheon Asian Games in 2014 after switching from Nigeria and repeated the feat four years later in Jakarta.
But she was stripped of her 2018 gold medals in the hurdles and mixed 4x400m relay after testing positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. She was banned for four years.
The former world indoor champion claimed her food was drugged.
“I just want to try to win the gold medal and try to set a new record,” she said after winning the gold medal in 54.45 seconds on Tuesday.
Adekoya, who had just returned to competition, won the 400m title on Saturday.
Bahraini athlete Kemi Adekoya crosses the finish line to win the women’s 400m hurdles final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. – AFP
Bahraini athlete Kemi Adekoya poses next to her new Asian Games record after winning the women’s 400m hurdles final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. —AFP
Annu Rani of India competes in the women’s javelin final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Rani won the gold medal. —AFP
India’s Parul Chaudhary, the gold medalist in the women’s 5,000 meters, stands with Japan’s Ririka Hironaka, the silver medalist, and Kazakhstan’s Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui, the bronze medalist, during the medal ceremony after the final. —Reuters
Focus on Paris
China’s Wu Yu easily won the Games’ first boxing gold medal by defeating Thailand’s Chuttamat Raksat by unanimous points in the women’s flyweight (50kg) final in the afternoon.
Tajikistan’s Davlat Boltayev won the first men’s gold medal in the heavyweight (92kg) category by a split decision 3-2 over China’s Han Xuezhen.
Wu Xiaohui hardly sweated and there were no marks on his face. He said: “It looks very comfortable, and it is actually very comfortable.”
But the Chinese boxer, who won the non-Olympic 52kg world title in Delhi earlier this year, said she thought she could do better.
She has her sights set on a gold medal at next year’s Paris Olympics.
“My main opponent is myself. As long as I keep pushing my limits and making myself stronger, I won’t be afraid of even the strongest opponent,” she said.
“I think it’s better to keep my feet on the ground. Now I have just entered the second stage, and I have already got a ticket to the Paris Olympics.”
Upcoming blockbusters
In road cycling, 2020 Tour de France stage winner Alexey Lutsenko of Kazakhstan won the gold medal in the men’s individual time trial, beating China’s Xue Ming by two minutes.
Olga Zabelinskaya from Uzbekistan won the women’s championship.
This is Lutsenko’s fourth Asian Games gold medal since the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, but he does not intend to stop there and will also participate in the next road race.
“It’s very important to me. I hope to win another gold medal for my country,” he said.
Rivals India and Pakistan are still expected to contest an exciting men’s cricket final.
Explosive opener Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed seven sixes to create a brilliant first century in the T20 match as India beat Nepal by 23 runs to reach the semi-finals and kick off their maiden Asian Games campaign.
Pakistan lived up to expectations and beat Hong Kong by 68 runs, with experienced all-rounder Khushdil Shah taking 3-13. —AFP
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