Double delight for Al-Garni

Mohamad Al-Garni’s memorable Asian Games continued with victory in the men’s 1500 metre final in Incheon on Monday.

The Qatari athlete was the victor in the 5000m on Saturday and wrapped up a Games double by posting a time of three minutes and 40.23 seconds in South Korea.

In a tight finish Mohamed Ramzi of Bahrain took the silver medal, while Adnan Taes Agar Almntfage of Iraq was the bronze medallist.

Al-Garni’s success typified a day to remember for Qatar in track and field.

Abubaker Ali Kamal shrugged off the disappointment of finishing fourth in the 5000m by winning the men’s 3000m steeplechase, while Mutaz Barsham added further glory for Qatar in the high jump – defending the title he won four years ago in Guangzhou.

In the women’s 1500m, Olympic bronze medallist Maryam Jamal continued her success by winning gold for Bahrain.

Seema Punia threw a huge 61.03m to win the women’s discus ahead of Chinese duo Lu Xiaoxin and Tan Jian.

Indonesia’s Maria Natalia Londa was the victor in the women’s long jump with a personal best of 6.55m and Ekaterina Voronina topped the podium in the women’s heptathlon.

Elsewhere on the track, heats started for the men’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay.

Home hero Cho Gwang-hee won gold in the men’s 200 metre individual kayak, becoming the first South Korean to top the podium in the K-1 discipline since 1990.

China’s Qiang Li won the men’s canoe single 200m sprint, while Japanese pair Momotaro Matsushita and Hiroka Fujishima were victors in the men’s kayak double 200m sprint.

A total of 12 golds were dished out in the canoe sprints, with Kazakhstan winning five.

Kazakhstan also won the gold in the men’s beach volleyball, toppling China 21-15 21-10.

There was joy for Thailand’s Jutatip Maneephan in the women’s cycling road race as she beat Vietnam’s Thi That Nguyen.

Tingmao Shi and Minxia Wu teamed up to give China gold in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final.

Further Chinese success in diving came in the men’s synchronised 10m platform through Chen Aisen and Zhang Yanquan.

China also took home two badminton golds, Lin Dan defended his Asian Games title in the men’s singles, while Zhang Nan and Zhao Yuniel clinched the mixed doubles.

Iran enjoyed a superb day in wrestling by winning three of the four gold medals on offer, only Uzbekistan’s Rashid Kurbanov denied Iran a clean sweep by defeating Ezzatollah Akbarizarinkolaei in the men’s freestyle 74-kilogramme category.

Chung Hyeon and Lim Yong-kyu delighted the home supporters by winning the men’s tennis doubles, while Thailand and India won the women’s and mixed doubles respectively.

In basketball semi-finals in the men’s and women’s 5-8 rank took place, while in cricket South Korea and Kuwait reached the last-eight of the men’s competition – the latter beating Maldives on the toss of a coin due to heavy rain.

North Korea defeated South Korea to set up a final clash with Japan in women’s football, and the hosts will contest the men’s handball final with Qatar.

Round-robin races continued in sailing, while preliminary matches took place in bowling, softball, sepaktakraw, kabaddi and soft tennis.

China will meet South Korea in the women’s hockey final after both won semi-final matches, while the pair also progressed to the last four of men’s water polo.

Quarter-final bouts took place in the men’s lightweight, flyweight, welterweight and light heavyweight boxing divisions, while there were round-of-16-contests in the middleweight category.