South Korea celebrates beating North at Asian Games

Saturday, 4 October 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Gold medallist players of South Korea make a deep bow on the ground for their fans after an award ceremony for the men's soccer gold medal match at Munhak Stadium during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon –REUTERS

Reuters: South Korea celebrated a famous win over its bitter rivals North Korea at the Asian Games on Thursday, winning the gold medal in the men’s soccer final. With no love lost between the two countries, who are still technically at war because there was no peace treaty ever signed after the Korean War ended in 1953, the pride of two nations was on the line. South Korea emerged as the winners but only just. The teams were both scoreless at the end of regulation time and looked to be heading to a penalty shootout when South Korea’s Rim Chang-woo scored in the last minute of extra time to give the hosts a 1-0 win. Rim’s goal set off wild celebrations in the capacity crowd of 47,000 and across the country. Tensions had been high before the match with security beefed up but there were no crowd problems. For the winners, the spoils of victory included a bonus - an exemption from two years of military service. For the losers, it was a painful defeat, that led to cries of foul play and finger-pointing from the North Korean head coach Yun Jong Su. “Referees should not give preferential treatment to the home team,” Yun told reporters. India was also celebrating a sweet victory against its biggest sporting rivals on Thursday when it beat Pakistan in the men’s hockey final. Meeting in the Asian Games final for the first time in 32 years, the highly-anticipated match lived up to all expectations. The teams finished level at 1-1 at the end of regular time and were forced into a penalty shoot-out, which India won 4-2 to capture its first Asian Games title since 1998, earning an automatic place at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Once the world leaders in hockey, India have fallen on hard times in recent years, prompting the country to hire former Australian international player Terry Walsh to turn things around. “In the end, coaches are only a path and teams are to follow that,” Walsh said. “India’s gold happened because the players understood the hockey performance really well.”

North Korea’s Ri Yongjik (2nd R) raises his hand as he defends his goal during the Men’s football gold medal match against South Korea at Munhak Stadium during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon – REUTERS

Japan and China shared the gold medals in the rugby sevens, affirming their status as the region’s powerhouses in one of Asia’s fastest growing sports. Japan beat Hong Kong 24-12 to win the men’s title for the third time in a row while China held on to beat Japan 14-12 in the women’s decider. Rugby sevens has been on the Asian Games programme since 1998 but with the sport having been added to the Olympics from 2016, the game’s popularity is rapidly growing and the stakes are rising. “Asian rugby is definitely improving and working really hard to catch up the rest of the world,” said Hong Kong’s Welsh coach Gareth Baber. “But with the backdrop of the Olympics, every country around the world is working harder at sevens so it’s hard to close the gap but we’re trying to do that.” Bahrain won three of the 11 gold medals decided in athletics, taking the men’s 10,000m and the women’s 5000m and marathon, all with African-born runners who have switched nationalities. Maryam Jamal added the 5,000m to her earlier win in the 1,500m. Born in Ethiopia, she has now won five Asian Games gold medals for her adopted country as well as an Olympic bronze medal. Moroccan-born El Hassan Elabbassi won the men’s 10,00m and Eunice Kirwa, who was born in Kenya, became Bahrain’s first winner of the women’s marathon. “I am very happy to win the gold medal. Thanks to all my friends, my family, federation and for Bahrain,” said Kirwa. India won the women’s 4x400m relay title for the fourth time in a row but Saudi Arabia, which had won the men’s event at the last three Asian Games, saw its winning streak ended by Japan. Heavy rain played havoc with some of the competitions on Thursday, especially the cricket. Afghanistan beat the rain and Hong Kong, by eight wickets, to win the first men’s semi-final, booking a place in Friday’s gold medal match. But the foul weather stopped Sri Lanka and Bangladesh finishing their semi-final, so the match was decided by a coin toss. Sri Lanka called correctly so were deemed the winners. With two days of competition to go, China has an unbeatable lead at the top of the medals table, with 322 medals in total, including 142 golds, well down from the 199 it won at the last Asian games four years ago. South Korea remains second with 73 golds, followed by Japan (46) and Kazakstan (20). There were no celebrations for Malaysia’s Tai Cheau Xuen, who was expelled from the Asian Games and stripped of the gold medal she won in martial arts, after she learnt that she had lost her appeal to have her ban for doping overturned. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced earlier this week that Tai had tested positive for sibutramine, a banned stimulant often found in weight-loss pills. The 22-year-old lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has set up an ad-hoc division in Incheon to deal with issues from the Asian Games. But CAS released a statement on Thursday saying it had rejected her appeal and the penalties would stand, meaning Indonesia’s Juwita Niza Wasni, who finished second in the competition, will get the gold medal. Tai is one of the five athletes to fail doping tests at the 17th Asian Games, but the only medallist and her suspension has infuriated Malaysian team officials. Cambodian soft tennis player Yi Sophany was also thrown out after testing positive for sibutramine while Tajikistan football player Khurshed Beknazarov was ejected after his doping test showed the presence of the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine. Iraqi weightlifter Mohammed Jasim Abboo Al Aifuri and Syrian karate competitor Nour Aldin Al-Kurdi both tested positive for steroids. They too were kicked out of the Games.