Haeider Hamarasheid won war-torn Iraq’s first medal of this year’s Asian Games yesterday, picking up a rowing bronze, and said he hoped it would set an example for young people in his homeland.
Hamarasheid finished the men’s single sculls in 7:10.10, about five seconds behind gold medalist Bajrang Lal Takhar of India with Taiwan’s Wang Ming-hui second.
“I’m so happy and excited because this is the first medal for Iraq at the Asian Games,” he said. “This achievement will encourage young people in Iraq.”
“We have trained in Baghdad and the environment was quite good without much security concern. We have been working hard,” Hamarasheid added.
Adel Ali, secretary-general of the Iraq National Olympic Committee, said the medal breakthrough would encourage the rest of the team, adding that more money was now being directed toward sport in the country.
“It is the first medal of the Iraq delegation in this Asian Games and the first is the best,” he said. “Nowadays, the environment for sports development in Iraq is much better than before. Our country will invest more money to develop rowing and other sports as well.”
Iraq won two silvers and one bronze at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, including a prestigious runner-up finish in soccer.
Wang finished the 2,000m race with a time of 7:07:33
Among other Taiwanese medal winners yesterday were soft tennis players Li Chia-hung and Yang Sheng-fa, who won the gold medal in the men’s doubles event, giving the country its fifth gold medal of the quadrennial sporting event.
The Taiwanese duo beat South Koreans Bae Hwan-sang and Kim Tae-jung 5-2 in the best-of-nine set match, 1-4, 4-2, 4-2, 4-0, 2-4, 4-1, 8-6, to win gold.
Li and Yang reached the finals with a more difficult 5-3 win over the Japanese team of Koji Kobayahsi and Hidenori Shinohara earlier in the day.
The Taiwanese team fell behind three sets to one but grabbed the final four sets to advance to the gold medal match.
It was Taiwan’s second gold medal in soft tennis at the Games, following the men’s team gold medal won on Sunday.
In the taekwondo men’s under-68kg event, Iran’s Mohammad Bagheri Motamed took the gold medal by beating Jang Se-Wook of South Korea in the final. Lo Tsung-jui of Taiwan and China’s Huang Jiannan won the bronze medals.
In the taekwondo women’s under-62kg event, South Korea’s Noh Eun-Sil won gold by beating Iran’s Raheleh Asemani 14-2 in the final.
Taiwan’s Chang Chiung-fang and Thailand’s Dhunyanun Premwhaew won the bronze medals.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB