INCHEON: The ugly spectre of drugs in sport took centre stage at the Asian Games on Tuesday when two athletes, including a gold medal winner, were kicked out of the region’s biggest multi-sports competition for doping offences.

Malaysian martial arts gold medallist Tai Cheau Xuen was stripped of her medal in wushu after testing positive for sibutramine, a banned stimulant often found in weight-loss pills.

Malaysia’s sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin responded by saying the south-east Asian nation would appeal the suspension, saying there were “serious concerns” about the testing process.

North, South Korea to meet in football final

Tai was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal in the nanquan martial arts style category and bronze in the nandao category. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Tai was still in Incheon.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced a second positive test on Tuesday, taking the total for the Games to four, involving Iraqi weightlifter Mohammed Jasim Abboo Al Aifuri.

A Tajik footballer and a Cambodian soft tennis player were expelled for doping earlier.

The OCA said Aifuri had tested positive for anabolic steroids in a pre-competition sample taken before the Games started.

There was no immediate announcement from the Iraqi delegation over whether he would challenge the ban. It was the Iraqi’s second offence in six years.

The pair’s expulsion took the gloss of a riveting day’s sport when the tiny islands of Singapore and Hong Kong collected five gold medals between them and the gulf states of Iran and Saudi Arabia shared four.

South Korea lost more ground to China, whose unstoppable sporting machine continued to rumble on with four days’ competition remaining in the quadrennial regional Olympics, but the hosts stayed in second place on the medals table and set up an explosive men’s football final with North Korea.

Singapore won three gold medals — two in sailing and another in bowling. Jodie Lai, aged 13, became one of the youngest ever Asian Games champions when she won the optimist class for solo dinghy.

INCHEON: Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Waleed A. Sharbatli astride horse Callahan clears an obstacle during the equestrian jumping individual final at the Dream Park.—AFP

Ryann Kwok, also of Singapore but not even a teenager yet, won a silver medal in his event, joining Lai among the few rare medallists born in the new millennium.

Hong Kong also won two gold medals in sailing as its competitors were able to focus their attention on their races despite the ongoing civil unrest at home.

Cheng Kwok-fai won the men’s windsurfing title and Hayley Chan took out the women’s windsurfing event for the former British colony, where pro democracy supporters continue to clash with authorities.

Saudi Arabia — who were heavily criticised by human rights groups for excluding women from their team — claimed just their second gold in Incheon when Abdullah Waleed Al Sharbatly won the equestrian individual jumping event.

YOON Jeong-Yeon (L) of South Korea competes against India’s Latika Bhandari in the women’s -53kg taekwondo quarter-final.—AFP

Al Sharbatly finished level with Japan’s Satoshi Hirao after both had successive clear rounds. In the jump-off, Al Sharbatly had another clear and got the gold when Hirao dropped a bar and incurred a penalty.

Iran won three gold medals, two in Greco-Roman wrestling and another in track and field when Ehsan Hadadi won his third straight Asian Games title in discus.

Boxing judges, meanwhile, found themselves in the spotlight over a series of decisions that went in favour of South Korean fighters.

The husband of Indian lightweight Sarita Devi launched an expletive-laden tirade and tangled with security after South Korea’s Park Ji-Na was controversially awarded their semi-final bout.

Mongolia’s male bantamweight Tugstsogt Nyambayar contentiously lost a decision against Ham Sang-Myeong, prompting a brief sit-in protest and an official complaint.

Later, Indian light flyweight Devendro Singh Laishram looked well on top against Shin Jong-Hun but the South Korean was handed their quarter-final on a unanimous points verdict.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) said it was not possible to appeal judges’ decisions. “This is a very sad day. We want to see fair play in sport,” Mongolia’s chef de mission Badmaanyambuu Bat Erdene said.

South Korea won 10 gold medals on Tuesday to take their total to 54 with four days of competition left, still way behind China who have 126, and 268 in total.

As expected, China completed a sweep of the synchronised diving events. Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia in the women’s 10-metre platform synchronised event, and Cao Yuan and Lin Yue in the men’s 3-metre springboard synchro.

Xie Wenjun cemented his status as the heir to China’s former Olympic champion and ex-world record-holder Liu Xiang when he won the 110m hurdles in 13.36sec.

Li Jinzhe won the men’s long jump and Li Ling took out the women’s pole vault as China enjoyed a positive evening at the near-empty, 62,000-seat Incheon Main Stadium.

China also won the women’s team table tennis title and both cross-country mountain bike races, Wang Zhen pedalling to victory in the men’s and Shi Qinglan in the women’s.

Wang Qiang won China’s first-ever gold medal in Asian Games tennis, beating Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) and Japanese teenager Yoshihito Nishioka won the men’s singles final when he upset top seed Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-2, 6-2 in the gold medal match.

China’s peerless table tennis players took the first two golds at the Games when they combined to win the men’s and women’s team titles.

But South Korea stayed on course for the chance to win the one medal that would mean the most — the men’s football final against reclusive neighbours North Korea.

The North booked its place in Thursday’s final with a 1-0 win over Iraq in the semi-finals then the South beat Thailand 2-0.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2014