Roundup: Dope Case Tarnishes Asian Games Athletics

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 14, 2002

Roundup: Dope Case Tarnishes Asian Games Athletics

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A positive doping test by Indian 1,500m gold medalist Sunita Rani tarnished an otherwise perfect Asian Games athletics competition, which on Sunday saw Thailand take the showcase men's 4x100m event by surprise and a marathon runner win DPR Korea's first track and field gold.

Sunita Rani, 1,500m winner, tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone after she picked a bronze in the women's 5,000mon Saturday, a senior official with the Olympic Council of Asia confirmed to Xinhua.

The 22-year-old Rani won her 1,500m gold in a record time of 4 minutes 06.03 seconds. She also won a silver and a bronze at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.

It was the second doping case in this games after Lebanese bodybuilder Youssef El Zein was ordered to hand over his bronze medal for his refusal to take a dope test following the men's 90kgfinal last Sunday.

Thailand beat Japan to win the men's 4x100m relay in a reversal of the result in Bangkok. The Thais shattered Japan's Games recordwith a winning time of 38.82 seconds.

The Japanese, who were aiming to sweep the men's relay golds, had to settle for silver as they saw their games record of 38.91 set in Bangkok broken.

"I'm so surprised that we lost to Thailand. We had thought only China could beat us," said 100m runner-up Asahara Nobubharu, who anchored Japan to a 38.90 seconds finish and a silver medal. China was third in 39.09.

Inspired by a message in blood, DPR Korean Ham Pong-sil covered the longest race in a winning time of two hours 33 minutes and 35 seconds.

"I felt so exhausted after 37 kilometers, but strength came back to me as I realized that Great Leader Kim Jong-il was looking after me," she said.

"My teammates wrote a message in blood on my wrist, which said 'Victory'. during the race that gave me a lift," she added.

China retained the women's 4x100m title by clocking 43.84 seconds, ahead of Thailand in 44.25 and Uzbekistan in 44.32.

World junior champion Wu Tao added to China's tally by winning the men's discuss gold with a throw of 60.76 meters.

China had a one-two finish in the women's triple jump as Huang Qiuyan and Zhang Hao jumped 14.28 and 13.89 meters respectively.

Asian champion Tatiana Efimenko won Kyrgystan's first athletics title in the women's high jump with 1.90 meters.

Saudi Arabia claimed their seventh athletics gold as they romped home first in a time of 3:02.47 in the men's 4x400m. India were second in 3:04.22 with Sri Lanka third in 3:04.37.

India took the women's 4x400m crown by clocking 3:30.84, ahead of Kazakhstan (3:31.72) and defending champions China (3:32.43).

Without star forward Ali Daei, who flew home following the death of his father, Iran completed the defense of the soccer title with a 2-1 over Japan Sunday night.

South Korea, fielding five of their World Cup semifinalist squad, went some way to restoring their reputation after their penalty shoot-out loss to Iran by beating Thailand 3-0 in the bronze match up.

The host men's volleyball team landed the gold medal by defeating Iran 25-18, 25-19, 25-23.

In the bronze medal play-off, Japan came from two games down to beat China 22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-9.

Holding off a large surge by Kuwait, South Korea triumphed over their rivals 22-21 to win the men's handball final. Qatar picked the bronze.

South Korea also won the 15-a-side rugby title with a 45-34 victory over Japan. Chinese Taipei finished third.

The host made it four out of six in modern pentathlon after taking the men's relay on Sunday to add to its men's individual and team, the women's relay top honors.

Uzbekistan is the biggest winner in boxing with five golds from60kg, 75kg, 81kg, 91kg and over-91kg categories and South Korea lifted three from 48kg, 54kg and 67kg divisions.

Kazakhastan took the 63.5kg and 71kg titles and Thailand and DPR Korea took the 51kg and 57kg respectively.

China completed a clean sweep of eight diving golds as Olympic champ Tian Liang and his compatriot finished 1-2 in the men's 10m platform.

DPR Korea's Jo Shol-ryong took the bronze.

In Wushu, Chinese masters walked away with five golds and Thailand took two. Iran and Malaysia each took one.

South Korea swept three golds in taekwondo, with the only other going to Chinese Taipei.

Chinese Zhou Mi won the badminton women's singles gold with a crushing 11-1, 11-1 win over teammate Gong Ruina.

The mixed doubles final was a lopsided affair in which South Korea's Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min routed Sudhisodhi Khunakornand Saralee Thougthongkam of Thailand 11-4, 11-0 in just 15 minutes.

In the last event of Asiad cycling, Japanese Kenji Takeya won the men's cross country in a time of one hour 47 minutes three seconds.

With only one day and seven golds remaining, China tops the overall gold race with 149. South Korea has 92 and Japan has 44. Kazakhstan stands fourth with 20, followed by Uzbekistan with 20 and Thailand 14.

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