Doping takes spotlight from teenage champs

INCHEON, South Korea — The ugly spectre of drugs in sport took centre stage at the Asian Games on Tuesday when two athletes, including a gold medal winner, were kicked out of the region's biggest multi-sports competition for doping offences.

Malaysian martial arts gold medallist Tai Cheau Xuen was stripped of her medal in wushu after testing positive for sibutramine, a banned stimulant often found in weight-loss pills.

Malaysia's sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin responded by saying the southeast Asian nation would appeal the suspension, saying there were "serious concerns" about the testing process.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced a second positive test on Tuesday, taking the total for the Games to four, involving Iraqi weightlifter Mohammed Jasim Abboo Al Aifuri.

The OCA said he had tested positive for anabolic steroids in a pre-competition sample taken before the Games started. There was no immediate announcement from the Iraqi delegation over whether he would challenge the ban.

The pair's expulsion took the gloss of a riveting day's sport when the tiny islands of Singapore and Hong Kong collected five gold medals between them and the gulf states of Iran and Saudi Arabia shared four.

South Korea lost more ground to China, whose unstoppable sporting machine continued to rumble on, but the hosts stayed in second place on the medals table and set up a dream date with North Korea in the men's football final.

Singapore won three gold medals — two in sailing and another in bowling. Jodie Lai, aged 13, became one of the youngest ever Asian Games champions when she won the optimist class for solo dinghy.

Ryann Kwok, also of Singapore but not even a teenager yet, won a silver medal in his event, joining Lai among the few rare medallists born in the new millennium.

Civil unrest

Hong Kong also won two gold medals in sailing as its competitors were able to focus their attention on their races despite the ongoing civil unrest at home.

Cheng Kwok-fai won the men's windsurfing title and Hayley Chan took out the women's windsurfing event for the former British colony, where pro democracy supporters continue to clash with authorities.

Saudi Arabia — which was heavily criticised by human rights groups for excluding women from its team — claimed just its second gold in Incheon when Abdullah Waleed Al Sharbatly won the equestrian individual jumping event.

Sharbatly finished level with Japan's Satoshi Hirao after both had successive clear rounds. In the jump-off, Sharbatly had another clear and got the gold when Hirao dropped a bar and incurred a penalty.

"It's a great feeling to win a medal. There's nothing better than winning the gold," said Sharbtly, who won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics.

"I was expecting the jump-off after seeing the second round. They made the course a bit bigger than other competitions."

Iran won three gold medals, two in Greco-Roman wrestling and another in track and field when Ehsan Hadadi won his third straight Asian Games title in discus.

South Korea won 10 gold medals on Tuesday to take its total to 54 with four days of competition left, still way behind China which has 126, and 268 in total.

As expected, China completed a sweep of the synchronised diving events by winning the men's 3-metre springboard and women's 10-metre platform finals.

China also won the women's team table tennis title and both cross-country mountain bike races, Wang Zhen pedalling to victory in the men's and Shi Qinglan in the women's.

Qiang Wang of China won the women's tennis singles title, beating Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand 6-3 7-6 (7-5) while Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka upset top seed Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 6-2 6-2 in the men's gold medal match.

But South Korea stayed on course for the chance to win the one medal that would mean the most — the men's football final against reclusive neighbours North Korea.

The North booked its place in Thursday's final with a 1-0 win over Iraq in the semifinals then the South beat Thailand 2-0.

"I have always dreamed about playing against North Korea in the final round," said South Korean forward Lee Jong-ho. "We will try our best, and achieve our goal, gold."