The Asian Games hammer throw bronze won by India’s Manju Bala has been upgraded to silver after one of the two Chinese competitors who finished ahead of her in the women's final, returned positive for dope test.“Manju Bala’s medal has been upgraded as one of the two Chinese athletes who finished above her has turned in a positive dope test,” a source in the Indian contingent here said, revealing that he had been informed by an athletics technical officials.This is the first dope offence in these Games which has affected the result of an Indian competitor.
HOCKEY EVES RETURN HOME
New Delhi: The Indian women's hockey team arrived here on Friday morning to a grand welcome after bagging the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon. Speaking on the performance, captain Ritu Rani said: "The entire team is ecstatic by this win. When we lost our semi-final match, we were adamant to take the bronze. I am happy that we played with elan and won the match. We will aim to continue this form and better ourselves in our performances in the future." Congratulating the team, Hockey India Secretary General Narinder Batra said, "It’s a proud moment for the country that our team has won the bronze medal. Each player of the team contributed towards this glory and I am proud of this team and wish them continued success in the future."
lANKA TAKE CRICKET GOlD
Incheon: Test nation Sri lanka denied Afghanistan their first ever Asian Games gold medal as they overcame a batting slump to win the cricket final by 68 runs on Friday. Bowled out for 133, the Sri lankans hit back to skittle the impatient Afghan batsmen for 65 in the Twenty20 match watched by a full house at the 2,500-capacity Yeonhui field in Incheon. leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis grabbed three wickets for 13 runs and Isuru Udana and Chaturanga de Silva chipped in with two wickets apiece as the Afghans folded up in 17.4 overs. Eight batsmen failed to reach double figures for Afghanistan, who are set to make their debut in the 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next year.
INDIA 5TH IN VOllEYBAll
India prevailed over Qatar 3-2 in a hard-fought contest to finish fifth in the men's volleyball competition on Friday. In men's 5th-6th place classification match at the Songnim Gymnasium here, the Indians rallied to beat the Qataris 25-21 20-25 25-22 20-25 15-10 in a keenly contested match, which lasted an hour and 47 minutes.
MAHBOOB IS MARATHON MAN
Ali Hasan Mahboob of Bahrain won the Asian Games men's marathon on Friday, concluding the athletics events at the continental competition in which three Asian records fell. Mahboob took gold in a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes and 38 seconds, with Kohei Matsumura one second behind in second place, followed by Japanese teammate Yuki Kawauchi. Mahboob is past winner of the Asiad 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Originally from Kenya, he changed his nationality to the Arab state in 2005. His win comes days after Kenya's Dennis Kimetto set a new world marathon record of 2:02.57 in Berlin, raising the bar for distance runners worldwide.
DISAPPOINTMENT IN TAEKWONDO
There was no cheer for India's taekwondo players at the Asian Games with Shaloo Raikwar and Margarette Maria losing their respective quarterfinal bouts in contrasting fashion on Friday. Shaloo lost her 73kg quarterfinal bout to Alfahad Abrar of Kuwait. Both the players finished 3-3 after the regulation four rounds but Abrar was declared 'Winner on Superiority' as the Indian had conceded two penalty points against her rival's one. later, Maria lost 1-15 to China's li Donghua in the 73kg quarterfinal. The Indian was tied 1-1 with her rival in the opening round but failed to log a single point after that.