HANGZHOU, China: China celebrated over a dozen golds across different sports as well a world record in shooting at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Sunday, but there were also disappointments and drama for the hosts as large flag-wielding crowds watched on their national day.
The drama came in the packed Olympic stadium again, a day after an athletics official suffered a broken leg and serious bleeding
after being hit by a mis-thrown hammer
.
This time it followed a false start in the women's 100m hurdles final.
Both China's Wu Yanni and India's Jyothi Yarraji were contacted by officials. But Yarraji was outraged and adamant she had not set off early. Wu complained that her opponent had moved first.
Heated discussions went on for several minutes on the inside of the track. Meanwhile the other athletes tried to stay calm. One, Lin Yuwei of China, even sat down and removed her spikes.
Eventually, amidst an almost farcical delay, the athletes were invited to watch the replay where it could clearly be seen that Wu made the false start. But Wu kept protesting. Eventually an official presented a compromise.
"You can run if you want to but it will be under review," the official said.
They rushed to their blocks, Lin quickly put her spikes back on and then won just ahead of Wu with Yarraji in third. But in the official results Wu was marked as disqualified, so fourth placed Yumi Tanaka of Japan was bumped up to bronze.
The men's shot put final also had a thrilling finish when Asian record-holder Tajinderpal Singh Toor overtook his Saudi rival with his last round throw of 20.36m to take victory.
"I feel really good," said Toor. "My wife asked me to bring her gold, only gold."
Elsewhere China's 2022 world long jump champion Wang Jianan retained his Asian Games title with a leap of 8.22m. Then his fellow 2022 world champion and compatriot Feng Bin followed that up with gold in the women's discus final thanks to a Games record throw of 67.93.
"The atmosphere in Hangzhou's stadium was truly amazing," said the bespectacled Feng, who like Wang will have high hopes for Paris 2024.
In the men's football quarter finals North Korean players clashed heatedly with referees after losing their quarter final against Japan 2-1, prompting staff to run onto the turf to protect the referees.
In one of the other quarter finals reigning champions South Korea, whose squad includes PSG midfielder Lee Kangin, cruised to a 2-0 victory over China. The hosts' long suffering fans were not surprised.
"The difference in quality is massive," wrote one user on China's top soccer app dongqiudi. "Only losing by two is actually pretty decent."
"Korea didn't even break a sweat," joked another.
In badminton, however, China's men restored some pride when they came back from 2-0 down to win the men's team gold 3-2.
But in the women's team final earlier, South Korea, led by world number one An Se-young, produced a stunning performance to sweep aside the hosts in a 3-0 victory.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
At the shooting range the Chinese women's trap team of Li Qingnian, 42, Wu Cuicui, 35, and Zhang Xinqiu, 29, set a new world record of 357 points on their way to winning gold, eclipsing the previous world best of 354 points set by the United States in 2018.
In trap competitors wield shotguns and aim at clay-based targets being fired rapidly away from the shooter at different angles.
The silver medal went to India, whose team included Rajeshwari Kumari, 31, daughter of acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia and former Asian Games champion in shooting, Randhir Singh.
"I am very happy that she won, and I am very proud that she's won the medal for India," said Singh. "For me, (the emotion) is doubled because I'm the president and she wins the silver medal.
"The same thing happened in 1982 when my father (Bhalindra Singh) was (Asian Games Federation) president and I won a medal (at the Delhi Games). So history is repeating itself and the legacy for the family in the sport continues."
But in women's golf India number one Aditi Ashok gave up a seven-shot lead in a final-day meltdown to lose her gold medal chance, allowing world number 206 Arpichaya Yubol to claim an unlikely title for Thailand.
Having shot a magical 61 on Saturday - the finest round of her career - Ashok had to settle for silver after closing with a five-under 77 that left her two strokes shy of the 21-year-old Thai at Hangzhou's West Lake International golf course.
In the men's team event South Korea, which included top 40 in the world ranked golfers Im Sung-jae and Si Woo Kim, won gold and so secure an exemption from military service.
In the men's U23 3x3 basketball, Mongolia won their first ever Asian Games bronze medal in a team event, before Taiwan pipped Qatar 18-16 to win gold and trigger elation on the court and a huge roar from Taiwan journalists in the media centre.
"I feel like my dream came true," said one of Taiwan's players, Yu Xiang-ping. "We thought it was mission impossible but we made it."
"For celebration perhaps we will get together and have dinner, and we will always remember this beautiful moment," said his team mate, Chiang Chun.
— Reuters
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