Pakistan dominate 2-1 win over India
Incheon: A string of missed chances from the forwards and lack of speed in the middle cost clueless India match against arch-rival Pakistan in their Men’s hockey pool B encounter at the Asian Games here on Thursday. Scoring two goals in the second half, a far more spirited efforts helped Pakistan humbled India 2-1 at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium. For Pakistan, Muhammad Waqas and Umar Muhammad Bhutta scored a goal each and Nikkin Chandanda Thimmaiah was the lone scorer for the men-in-blue. (UNI)
Indians 5th after 2 sessions of dressage and cross country
Incheon: Indian horse riders neither performed brilliantly nor disappointed totally in two days of team and individual eventing at the Asian Games and were in the middle of the small pack here on Thursday.After the first session of dressage and cross country, the four-member squad stood 5th with 180.50 penalty points out of 7 teams but a medal looks remote tomorrow, the last day, when the event ends after the final competition – jumping of the horses.India, who were just four penalty points away from fourth-placed China after yesterday’s dressage performed poorly in the team cross country event today as they were docked 46 penalty points combined – time and jump penalties.They stood further behind China, who managed to limit their own penalties to 16, at the end of the day.The other two riders – Mirza Fouaad (Penultimate Vision) and Ajai Poovaiah (Cocky Locky) – fared marginally better without incurring jump penalties that their colleagues got.(PTI)
Cambodian athlete fails doping test
INCHEON: The Asian Games were hit by a second anti-doping violation today when the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said Cambodian soft tennis player Yi Sophany had tested positive.The OCA said in a statement her urine specimen, collected in pre-competition testing on Sept. 16, was found to contain the banned weight loss drug Sibutramine.The news comes two days after the Asian Games announced its first positive test.Tajikistan soccer player Khurshed Beknazarov was thrown out of the multi-sport event in South Korea after his test showed the presence of the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine. (Reuters)
Match-fixing claim hits men’s football
Incheon: Match-fixing suspicions hit the Asian Games men’s football competition on Thursday after a betting analysis company said there were strong indications of manipulation. Asian Games organisers promised a full investigation after the claim by Swiss-based Sportradar surfaced in a Singapore newspaper. “OCA takes this matter seriously and works with the Asian federation (AFC) and international federation (FIFA) for a proper and full investigation,” an official told AFP. In Singapore’s The New Paper, a senior Sportradar official said betting patterns strongly indicated match-fixing at the tournament in Incheon, South Korea. “We can say that we strongly believe there have been manipulated matches at the Asian Games,” said Andreas Krannich, Sportradar’s managing director of strategy and integrity. Krannich did not reveal the teams involved but said attention was focusing on at least one game where late goals were scored.(afp)
Swimmers’ flopshow continues
Incheon: The Indian swimmers once again produced a disappointing performance with none of the four in fray making the finals of their respective events in the 17th Asian Games here on Thursday.In the men’s 50m butterfly event, Anshul Kothari finished fifth in his heats after clocking 25.67.In the men’s 100m freestyle heats, Aaron D’Souza and Neil Contractor also flopped. While D’Souza ended fifth with a timing of 51.20, Contractor singed off seventh after clocking 53.01.In the men’s 200m backstroke heats, Prathapan Nair was a lowly sixth after completing the race with a timing of 2:10.13.(pti)