All three top finishers in the men’s 800m final were disqualified in the latest dispute to hit the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday.
Qatar’s Femi Ogunode completed a sprint double when he won the 200m in a Games record 20.14 seconds to add to his new Asian mark of 9.93 seconds in the 100m. Yet controversy broke out in the men’s 800m when Abdulaziz Mohammed, Musaab Bala and Abraham Kipchirchir Rotich, who finished one, two and three, were all disqualified.
The Games’ official Web site said Saudi Mohammed was disqualified for obstruction, while Qatar’s Bala and Rotich of Bahrain were penalized for breaking lane regulations.
The drama comes just days after Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet was stripped of her steeplechase win as she was about to step onto the podium, only to be reinstated the next day.
As Afghanistan’s men’s cricketers reached the semi-finals with victory over Nepal, the war-torn country’s head of the sport invited top nations to tour.
“I am telling the players to come to my country and play there, they will treasure those memories for ever,” Afghanistan Cricket Board chairman Shahzada Masoud said.
Shi Tingmao won the women’s 1m springboard and He Chao took the men’s equivalent as China progressed to six diving medals, four away from a perfect 10.
Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae failed to inspire South Korea to team gold, but remained the favorite for the individual title today.
South Korea’s women edged China 1-0 to take field hockey gold, but China still reached 130 golds overall, ahead of 62 for the hosts.
Today, all eyes will be on the all-Korea soccer final, with millions of fans in both nations to be glued to their TVs for the clash, which earns the winner a ticket to the 2016 Rio Games and leaves the loser facing a hazardous qualification route.
Few soccer fixtures are painted with as much political intrigue as this one. The last time the two sides met in the Asiad final was in 1978 in Bangkok, where neither could find the net and gold medals were handed out to both sets of players.
A post-game report in the Bangkok Post read: “Both sides were relieved to see the gruelling game end, and the atmosphere could not have been more friendly as the 22 players embraced each other.”
Given the current frosty state of inter-Korean relations, another show of cross-border conviviality is unlikely whatever the score today.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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