INCHEON: Swimmer Naoya Tomita brought shame to Japan’s Asian Games delegation after he was caught stealing a camera from a local photojournalist, while football authorities said on Saturday they were looking into reports of match-fixing at the Asiad.

The Asian Football Confederation said in a statement it was working closely with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and Sportradar, which monitors the world’s betting industry, identifying fraud and unusual patterns of behaviour.

“The AFC is determined to eradicate matchfixing in Asia and we will ensure no stone is left unturned in the pursuit of our goal,” said soccer’s governing body in the region.

The men’s football tournament continues on Sunday with the quarter-finals, while the women will play in the semis the following day.

There were 24 gold medals awarded on Saturday in South Korea, where 9,500 athletes from 45 countries have gathered to compete in 36 sports.

There would be no more popular gold medal for the host country than baseball, and South Korea set up a mouth-watering final against Taiwan after beating China 7-2 at Munhak Baseball Stadium on Saturday.

In the earlier semi-final, Taiwan, referred to as ‘Chinese Taipei’ at the Games, exploded for seven runs in the second inning on the way to a 10-4 rout of Japan.

There was more disappointment for Japan with the news that swimmer Tomita, who won gold in the 200m breaststroke four years ago in Guangzhou but finished out of the medals in Incheon, had admitted stealing an 8 million won ($7,600) camera.

“He has been expelled from the team effective immediately,” said the head of the Japanese delegation, Tsuyoshi Aoki. “He will have to find his own way back to Japan. Further consequences of the act will be decided upon in Japan.”

The swimming events wrapped up the previous night with Japan’s powerful men’s team winning eight out of a possible 19 events.

Japan are determined to displace South Korea as runners-up to China in the medals table for the first time since 1994, and trail the hosts by three gold medals after eight days of competition.

With China running away at the top with 96 golds, South Korea are second with 35 and Japan on 32 in third place.

The athletics competition finally got underway on Saturday, with Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan winning the men’s hammer and the women’s shot put going to 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Gong Lijiao of China.

Ethiopia-born Alia Saeed Mohammed won gold for the United Arab Emirates in the women’s 10,000m, while Qatar’s Mohamad Al-Garni, born in Morocco, took the men’s 5,000m title.

Japan’s Misaki Sango set an Asiad record in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, winning in 9:49.85.

Chinese sprinter Zhang Peimeng advanced to the 100m semi-finals as he renews his quest to become the first Asian sprinter to break the 10-second barrier.

Zhang finished second in his heat in 10.27 seconds, with Qatar’s Nigerian-born Femi Ogunode recording the day’s fastest time of 10.14.

Asian record holder Samuel Francis, another Nigerian-born Qatari, also advanced to the semi-finals in 10.33, along with Japan’s Kei Takase and Ryota Yamagata, both with 10.21, and Zhang’s team-mate Su Bingtian in 10.35.

Chisato Fukushima was on course to defend her Asian Games title in the women’s 100m, winning her heat in 11.49 — 0.28 seconds behind her personal best.

She faces strong competition from Kazakhstan’s Olga Safronova, who ran 11.44 and Viktoriya Zyabkina, in 11.51, both of whom have significantly reduced their times since the last Asian Games four years ago in Guangzhou.

With Ogunode choosing not to defend his Asian Games 400 title, Saudi Arabia’s Abbas Abubakar Abbas had the fastest heat time in 45.61, followed by South Korea’s Park Bonggo.

In other sports, Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Nitya Maheswari, Asian Games bronze medalists four years ago, won gold women’s badminton doubles by downing Japan’s Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo in straight sets.

Under-23 road race champion Alexey Lutsenko of Kazakhstan won the men’s time trial, while the women’s event was won by South Korea’s Asian champion Na Ah-reum.

Four medals were given out on the first day of the freestyle wrestling competition, with Japan’s Eri Tosaka winning gold in the women’s 48kg class and team-mate Rio Watori clinching the 63kg class.

North Korea’s Jong Hak Jin triumphed in the men’s 57kg class and Bekzod Abdura­khmonov won Uzbekistan’s first gold of the games in the 70kg class. “It means everything

to me. This gold is for all Uzbeks,” Abdurakhmonov said.

Published in Dawn, September 28th , 2014