Asian Games: Ugly spectre of drugs takes centre stage with two athletes kicked out in Incheon

Xie Wenjun led the way in the men's 110m hurdles. Xie broke home fans' hearts as he took gold from South Korean Kim Byoung-Jun in 13.36 seconds

Incheon: The ugly spectre of drugs in sport took centre stage at the Asian Games yesterday 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 south-east 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 yesterday, 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 soccer 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.

Hong Kong's double
Hong Kong also won two gold medals in sailing as its competitors were able to focus their attention 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.

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

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 yesterday 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 soccer final against reclusive neighbours North Korea.

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

Hat-trick of golds
Meanwhile, China's athletes delivered a hat-trick of Asian Games golds on the eve of the country's national day yesterday, with Xie Wenjun leading the way in the men's 110m hurdles.

Xie broke home fans' hearts as he took gold from South Korean Kim Byoung-Jun in 13.36 seconds, while Jamras Rittidet ran a personal best 13.61 to claim an unexpected bronze for Thailand, the country's first athletics medal of the Games.

Men's long jumper Li Jinzhe and women's pole vaulter Li Ling helped Xie get the party started early with two more golds.

"I'm absolutely delighted to win the gold, especially as tomorrow (today) is National Day, I'm so proud to be here representing the Chinese team," she said.

China now have nine athletics golds at the Incheon Asiad, four more than Qatar, whose army of African-born athletes has dominated the running events so far.

The win for 24-year-old Xie is China's eighth consecutive Asiad victory in the men's 110m hurdles and he will now target the 2016 Rio Olympics as he takes on the mantle of former champion Liu Xiang.

Long jumper Li was a class apart from his rivals — the only man on the night to clear eight metres and finishing a full 11 centimetres clear of South Korea's Kim Deok-Hyeon.

Iran's Olympic silver medallist Ehsan Hadadi confirmed his status as number one Asian discus thrower with a third consecutive Asiad gold medal, beating India's Vikas Gowda by nearly three metres with 65.11.