Saudi Arabia advances to men's football round of 16

Saudi Arabia defeated Malaysia 3-0 to win a ticket to the next 16-team round in the men's football.

In the 32nd minute, Mohd Zami Muhammad Zubir Bin of Malaysia was sent off for two yellow cards. Shortly after Malaysia changed goalkeepers, Saudi midfielder Kanabah Majed Omar A found the net to make it 2-0 with a right-footed shot. Saudi Arabia made numerous attempts to break through Malaysia’s defense before forward Alshehri Ahmed Hassan J added a goal in the 84th minute.

“The game was very hard. Players were very nervous in the first half, but in the second half, they controlled their mind and it turned out with goals.” Antolinez Remesal Lorenzo, head coach of Saudi Arabia, said.

With the win, Saudi Arabia placed second in Group A, and will play Group B winner in the round of 16.

Men's handball: Bahrain defeats Saudi Arabia 26-20

Bahrain ground out a tough win against Saudi Arabia 26-20, a physical matchup that slowed the pace of the game. Mamood Abdulaqader led Bahrain with six goals, while Hussain Almohsin scored six for Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain becomes the number one seed from Group A, while Saudi Arabia becomes the number two seed. Both teams will advance to Group 1 of the main games, fueling their aspirations for a medal.

Men’s boxing heavy: Kazakhstan and Syria to compete for the gold

 
Anton Plnchuk of Kazakhstan and Mohammad Ghossoun of Syria are expected to compete for the gold medal in men’s boxing heavy division at the Asian Games.

Pinchuk is currently ranked 11th in the world for his division. He won the champion's title for his division in the World Championship of Asia in 2013.

Ghossoun will try to defend his championship title following the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. He also took first place in the World Championship of Asia in 2011.

The preliminary rounds will start Sept. 26, 19:00 p.m. at the Seonhak Gymnasium in Incheon.

 

Women’s Cricket: Nepal reaches the quarterfinals

Nepal defeated Malaysia today at Yeonhui Cricket Stadium by 46 runs to reach the quarter-finals, where they will meet Bangladesh.

Malaysia won the toss and decided to put Nepal into bat. Nepal had a steady start and lost their first wicket of Sobha Aale in the 6th over. Nary Thapa added four runs but the other opener Sita Magar was more successful and helped take the score to 50/3 when she was bowled out for 18 by Jannadiah Halim. Mamta Chaudhary top scored for Nepal, making 22 not out with a strike rate of 75.86 percent. Sarita Magar was also there at the end of the innings when Nepal made 88/3.

Nepal picked up their first wicket on the 3rd ball when bowler Sonu Khadka and wicketkeeper Mamta Thapa worked well together to run-out Mahani Ahyar. In the third over, Emylia Ellani was bowled out by Khadka for just 5. The captain Winifred Duraisingam was out LBW in the 4th over. In the 9th over, Indo Barma had to leave the game when she got injured from fielding the ball. Opener Christina Barett got the most runs for Malaysia with 11 but was caught in the 11th over to take the score to 33/5. Wickets continued to fall regularly and when Rewina Mohammad got out LBW in the 15th over it was game over, Malaysia all out for 42.

Malaysia captain Winnifred Duraisingam, said there are disappointed to not make it to the quarter-finals but they will go home and get stronger. “I think in our fielding we did well, we restricted them to below 100, I’m happy with our fielding so now with our batting, we fought but it didn’t come our way. Nepal their bowling were better and they did much better than us and restricted us so I think Nepal did a very good job,” she said.

Women's 10m air rifle shooting:  Iran’s Najmeh Khedmati wins the title

The Incheon Asian Games women’s 10m air rifle ended as a successful event for Iran. They put up a good fight, even better than the Chinese shooters who hold the world-records. Iran’s Najmeh Khedmati shot her way to gold at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range on Sept. 22. She got the title with a total of 207.9 points in the finals.

Narjes Andevariv Emamgholinejad, another shooter from Iran won the silver by scoring 206.6 points. She lead the entire competition, hitting the dead center of the target several times but her last few shots were not as good as her early phase.

China's Zhang Binbin, settled for bronze with 186.3 points. She also had an unexpected event during the qualification round. Zhang advanced to the finals in second place, but came close to elimination during qualification due to the violation of a rifle regulation regarding maximum weight. But the Chinese team appealed that her violation was unintentional and the jury accepted that argument.

“I believed everything that I did was right. So, I try not to worry about it. I had faith that I would advance to the final, and I kept saying that to myself.” Zhang said.

YI Siling, who is the defending Asian Games champion and also the London Olympic 2012 champion was the strongest contender for gold. But she was the fourth shooter to leave the final match.

“I came here right after the World Championship in Spain, which influenced my shooting. That’s why I couldn’t do my best job. However, I’m satisfied with the results.” she said.

Due to the change in shooting rules by the International Shooting Sports Confederation (ISSF), scores from the qualification round were reset and not considered in the medal decision. Also, the finals were done in knock-out style: after a given number of shots, the athlete with the lowest score was eliminated, while the others remained to continue shooting.

Men's rowing: Filipino rowers edge Thailand in Lightweight Double Sculls Repechage

Despite leading from the start, Thailand’s Porntawat Inlee and Jaruwat Saensuk were edged from first place in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) repechage on Day 3 of the Asian Games rowing at Tangeum Lake International Rowing Center in Chungju by the Philippines’ pair, Edgar Ilas and Nestor Cordova.

And while they both move into the Finals A race this Wednesday, one of the crews they need to watch is Uzbekistan’s Doston Oripov and Sabrillo Barotov who failed to make the lead three boats until the final 500 meters.

In what was a tight start it was the Thailand pair who took the lead early although going into the first 500m they were running bow-to-bow with the Kazakhstan duo of Artyom Issupov and Yevgenly Tatsey. From that point Thailand led the way through to last few moments of the 2000m race.

At the 1000m mark Kazakhstan and the Philippines were in second and third spot, respectively, but by the next 500m buoy Kazakhstan had slipped to fourth with Indonesia taking third spot behind the Philippines.

Coming out of the 1500 mark Thailand maintained its narrow lead over the Philippines boat while the Uzbekistan pair, Oripov and Barotov, trailed in fifth.

As the finish line loomed for the rowers it looked as Thailand would cross first but with a final spurt of energy Ilas and Cordova pushed themselves to the front, taking the race microseconds ahead of Thailand in 6:40.95s.

Both crews now move into the Finals a race with the remaining crews competing for a spot in the gold medal race when they hit the water in the event’s Finals B race.

 
Women's sepaktakraw: Myanmar proves their confidence by seizing gold

 
Gold medal match between Laos and Myanmar started off with Laos' athletes being careless; sending a too long service and failing to block spikes from Myanmar.

Myanmar received some points thanks to Laos' misses in addition to their own successful attacks. However Laos attacked back quite fiercely, although there was still another failed service by Sonsavan Keosouliya, Koy Xayavong of Laos gives off sunback spikes that have them chasing the scores even after her slightly injured right leg.

Myanmar's ace Phyu Phyu Than showed her special headkick again, making Laos players unable to react. The first set ended with net battle won by Myanmar.

The second set started with Xayavong's sunback spike, but was blocked and returned by Kyu Kyu Thin.

Even until the second set, Laos displayed lousy services, giving more points to Myanmar.

Myanmar advanced even more with Kyu's great receives and Phyu's sharp sunback spikes and tap.

Kyu Kyu Thin made Laos players all worked up at the edge of the net by playing short slow headers and roll spikes.

Laos was left 6 points behind by the first 5 minutes of the second set.

Kyu made a service fail but covers it with successful block and gained Myanmar their 13th point. Phyu also calmly put her header attacks to a good use over the net where both Xayavong and Keosouliya were trying to block – anticipating the strong spike that never came.

The match proceeded with Myanmar leading the points. Phyu Phyu Than continued her attacks with Kyu Kyu Thin's great feeds while Laos tried their best to chase the score but to no avail.

Despite the great performance of Laos players, Myanmar wrapped up the match with 21-15 against Laos team that is highly anticipated to win after surpassing Vietnam on Sept. 21 semifinal match.

Myanmar is considered a strong candidate to win the women's game from the start.

Myanmar supporters might also be considered as a factor for Myanmar's victory; they kept chanting and cheering tirelessly throughout the match, giving strong spirit to Myanmar athletes.

On the other hand, Laos team manager Vangkeomany Sengthong said, "To be honest, this is our first Asian Games; we came here knowing that Myanmar is stronger than us, but still, we have tried our best. It is a good experience to us although it is disappointing to lose."

The final score for Myanmar was 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) over Laos at the Bucheon Gymnasium on Sept. 22.

(From Asian Games News Service)