JAKARTA, Monday: India’s men suffered their first ever kabaddi defeat at the Asian Games when they slumped 24-23 to South Korea in a group match on Monday.
The seven-time champions beat both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on Sunday to stamp their authority but they met their match in South Korea, ending a run of 32 straight wins.
India have only lost once before in the home-grown, breath-holding sport, after they went down to the same opponents at the 2016 World Cup.
“What a massive upset. South Korea beats India in men’s Kabaddi @asiangames2018 24-23. Indians looked a bit complacent,” former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha said on Twitter.
Kabaddi, an ancient sport rooted in Indian mythology, made its Asian Games debut in Beijing in 1990.
The game requires yoga-like breathing skills as two seven-player teams send a raider into enemy territory to tag an opponent before returning to safety, all on one breath. - AFP
CHINA’S SUN YANG ROARS TO SECOND ASIAN GAMES GOLD
Chinese heavyweight Sun Yang battered his rivals to create history Monday as the swimming goliath scooped the first-ever Asian Games men’s 800 metres freestyle gold with another monstrous performance.
Greeted like a rock star with high-pitched squeals from a excitable section of female Chinese fans in Jakarta, the triple Olympic champion claimed a runaway victory in a new Games record of seven minutes, 48.36 seconds.
Sun, who blazed to the 200m title at the weekend, uncoiled his rippling two-metre frame to pull away over the second half of the race to leave Japan’s Shogo Takeda and Vietnam’s Nguyen Huy Hoang flailing in his wake.
China topped the medals on day one on Sunday, winning four golds to Japan’s three, led by their talismanic team captain.
Elsewhere, Japanese Olympic hold Rikako Ikee won her second and third gold medals of the competition in the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle.
The 18-year-old, who lit up the recent Pan Pacific swimming championships in Tokyo, is expected to be a force in the 100m free and 100m fly at the 2020 Olympics in her home city.
Ikee breezed to victory in Monday’s one-lap race in a Games-best 25.55 -- almost half a second clear of China’s Wang Yichun.
After setting a new competition best in the 100m free in helping Japan win the weekend’s 4x100m free, Ikee returned for swimming’s blue-riband event to duck under that record again, winning in 53.27 from China’s Zhu Menghui (53.56).
Japan team mate Kosuke Hagino will also be favourite to retain his title in the 200m individual medley later on Monday.
NORTH KOREA’S STARS SWEEP TO GOLDEN WEIGHTLIFTING DOUBLE
North Korea’s pint-sized weightlifters ruled the roost as the secretive nation bagged their first two gold medals of the Asian Games on Monday.
Ri Song Gum pipped local favourite Sri Wahyuni Agustiani to open their account in the women’s 48kg class then pocket rocket Om Yun Chol retained his Asian Games men’s 56kg title with ease as he defeated eternal Asian rival Kim Tuan Thach of Vietnam.
Ri, who is just 4ft 7in (140cm) tall, hoisted a massive 112kg in her first clean and jerk attempt to power past Agustiani who had led after the first snatch discipline.
Then Om, who is not much taller at 4ft 11in (151cm), raised 160kg in the clean and jerk for a 287kg total, 7kg ahead of Thach, the reigning world champion, who also had to settle for silver behind Om in Incheon four years ago.
Indonesia took their second lifting medal of the day as Suramat Bin Suwoto Wijoyo was awarded the bronze after a 272kg total.
CHINESE HOTSHOTS REIGN SUPREME AT ASIAN GAMES
China’s sharpshooters reigned supreme at the Asian Games on Monday as they won both the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle titles and also secured top spot in the women’s trap.
Yang Haoran, 22, and Zhao Ruozhu, 20, were crowned champions in the men’s and women’s air rifle after shrugging off strong challenges from India and South Korea respectively.
It was a second medal in two days for both shooters after they combined to win silver in the mixed team event on Sunday.
Yang, the 2014 world champion, notched up a Games record total of 249.1 in Palembang, ahead of India’s Deepak Kumar at 247.7, while Taiwan’s Lu Shao-chuan took bronze with 226.8.
Not to be outdone by her Chinese team-mate, Zhao also pulled off a Games record of 250.9.
That put Zhao, who was runner-up in last year’s Asian championships, narrowly in front of Korea’s Jung Eun-hea on 248.6. Mongolia’s Nandinzaya Gankhuyag secured bronze with 227.4.
Later, Zhang Xinqiu won the women’s trap with a score of 45 points, narrowly beating Korea’s Kang Gee-eun on 44 to claim China’s seventh shooting gold on day two.
In the men’s trap, Taiwan’s Yang Kunpi, 20, beat India’s 19-year-old Lakshay Lakshay with a score of 48 to take gold -- and afterwards revealed he hadn’t even looked at the scores. – AFP
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