Japan rugby champs, Lanka finish 6th

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Qatar

ASIAN GAMES: Meanwhile, Japan bagged the Asian Games Rugby Sevens gold with a one-point margin while Sri Lanka secured the sixth place at the seven-a-side competition concluded at the Al-Arabi Sports Club grounds last night.

After leading 17-14 at the breather, Japan survived an action packed second half to pull off an exciting 27 points to 26 win over arch rivals South Korea. The winners collected their points from one goal and four tries while the Koreans scored three goals and one try. Back division player Akihito Yamada was the architect of the Japanese win with two superb tries.

Sri Lanka rugby team's lean run continued with their second successive defeat.Having lost to China on the previous day, the Lankans fared no better in going down to Hong Kong 5-35 in their play-off match for the fifth position. Hong Kong, which led 14-0 at lemons, collected their points from five goals while Sri Lanka had a solitary unconverted try.

The Hong Kong lads had total control right from the kick off and never allowed their opponents to dictate terms. Overall, Hong Kong enjoyed territorial advantage for more than 70% of their time as Lankans struggled hard to contain their opponents.

Mark Wright, Hing Hung Tsang, owan Varty, Jeff Wong and Keith Robertson scored a try each for the winners. All those five tries were converted by Kenzo Pannel. Sri Lanka captain Sanjeewa Jayasinghe was the only Lankan to cross the Hong Kong line but Saliya Kumara missed the conversion.

China accounted for the bronze medal when they defeated Taiwan by 19 points to 12 in the play off for the third place. Thailaned finished seventh, beating minnows India 29-0. On their way to the final, South Korea knocked out China 19-5 in the semi finals.

Today's men's basketball competition quarter finals saw Iran registering a nail-biting 68-64 victory over Japan. The quarter final contest between Jordan and Kazakhstan too was a keenly contested affair as the former won 99-91. In another men's basketball quarter final match, China edged out South Korea 29-21.

Singapore dominated the Laser finals, taking home two golds and a silver, to lift their Asian Games gold medal tally to five in the sailing competition.

The only two females in the Open Laser Radial and Open Laser 4.7 classes both won medals, becoming the first females to ever win medals at the Asian Games in their respective classes. China's Xu Lijia won gold in the Laser Radial and Nurul Elia Anuar, Malaysia took bronze in the Laser 4.7 class.

Waleed Al Sharshani won silver in the Laser 4.7 and is Qatar's first ever Asian Games sailing medallist.

In the Open Laser Radial, after a difficult and very competitive regatta, Laser world champion Xu took China's fourth gold medal in an open class, winning by two points. Seng Leong Koh from Singapore and Rajesh Choudhary from India were on equal points at the conclusion of sailing on 12 December, but Koh won on countback.

Koh won the final race, giving him more firsts overall than Choudhary and allowing him to jump from fourth overall to second place, taking the silver. Choudhary won his second consecutive bronze medal in this class, having won bronze at the Asian Games Busan 2002.

Malaysia and India will battle it out for 5th place in the men's hockey competition after winning their respective 5th/8th classification matches at Al-Rayyan Sports Club this afternoon. Malaysia will meet India in the 5th/6th playoff on Thursday 14 December after they brushed aside challenges from Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei.

The Malaysian's defeated Bangladesh 6-1 in the first classification matches. They were 5-1 up in the first half after Jiwa Mohan opened the scoring for Malaysia in the fifth minute before team mates Chua Boon Huat, Muhamad Amin Rahim and Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim each got their name on the score sheet.

Mohan added his second a minute before halftime as Malaysia continued to enjoy complete dominance over their opponents, while Rahim earned his second and Malaysia's sixth from a penalty stroke.

Md Maksud Alam scored a consolation goal for a disappointing Bangladesh in the 16th minute and they will play Chinese Taipei in the 7th to 8th qualification match on 14 December.

To me, this match was important, said Malaysia's Jiwa Mohan, "We had to win it to get into the fifth place playoff. We had hoped to be the best in this tournament, but now unfortunately we are fifth.

We have enjoyed this tournament and we will be taking back good memories."

In the second 5th/8th classification match, India pummelled Chinese Taipei 12-1 with India's Ragunath Vokkaliga scoring five goals.

Doha, Tuesday