For the third day in a row, medal ceremonies took a back seat to press conferences announcing positive doping tests at the Asian Games.
Oo Mya Sanda of Myanmar yesterday became the fourth weightlifter to return a positive test at the games. She won a silver medal in the women's 75kg weight class and tested positive for a banned metabolite of an anabolic agent.
She waived her right to have her second, or B sample, analyzed, said Husain Al Musallam, director-general of the Olympic Council of Asia.
Al Musallam said Sanda has been stripped of her silver medal. The gold medalist remains Cao Lei of China and the new silver medalist is Kim Soon-hee of South Korea.
The bronze will be awarded to Sinita Darmariani of Indonesia, who had finished fourth.
On Sunday, two Uzbekistan weightlifters tested positive for banned substances and were disqualified.
Elmira Ramileva, who placed fifth in the women's 69kg division, tested positive to the anabolic steroid stanozolol in a test taken on Dec. 4. Alexander Urinov, who was seventh in the men's 105kg class, returned positive for cannabis in a Dec. 3 sample.
Al Musallam announced on Saturday that Than Kyi Kyi, a female weightlifter in the 48kg class from Myanmar, had tested positive for a banned diuretic and was disqualified.
On the track, world record holder Liu Xiang qualified easily for today's final of the 110m hurdles.
Liu won his heat in 13.74 seconds -- .86 slower than his world mark. In the faster second heat, Masato Naito of Japan was first in 13.70 and Shi Dongpeng of China second in 13.71, giving them the two fastest qualifying times.
Rain again hit games venues yesterday after a one-day respite from the inclement weather. Competitors in the track and field events had to wipe drizzle from their eyes during their events, and several other outdoor sports experienced some delays.
In the first gold medal event yesterday, Saudi Arabia won the team show jumping, with South Korea second and the United Arab Emirates third.
In tennis, both top seeds in men's and women's singles advanced to the semi-finals.
ATP Tour regular Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea advanced when he beat Dennis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 7-5 yesterday. And China's Li Na had some early difficulty but beat Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Yesterday, Qatar Olympic officials reiterated their plans to bid for the Summer Olympics.
Shiekh Saoud bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said Qatar would "keep trying until we win."
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