China has to share golds; KL, Vietnam win first golds

Phil Brown, Associated Press, Busan, South Korea

China had to share some of its gold medals at the Asian Games on Friday, and Malaysia and Vietnam joined the ranks of winners.

A 27-year-old mother from Uzbekistan beat the Chinese for one of the day's five gymnastics gold medals, a South Korean won another and China shared the other three -- with a South Korean and two North Koreans.

Despite that, China still increased its overall lead by winning 13 events.

With only two events remaining Friday, it had 71 gold medals -- more than halfway to its target with 10 days remaining.

Thanks to another upset of Japanese favorites by Wu Peng, China won three swimming races. It took four golds in shooting, one in beach volleyball, one in wrestling and one in cycling.

South Korea narrowed the gap in what some consider the real contest of the Asian Games, for second behind China.

With its two gymnastics golds, two in wrestling, two in women's epee and men's saber team fencing and one in shooting, it had a total of 22.

Japan still enjoyed a slight edge with 24. It won two golds in swimming, one in beach volleyball and one in the team division of the equestrian three-day event.

Kazakhstan weightlifter Sergey Filimonov broke a world record in the snatch in winning gold in the men's 77-kilogram division.

China's Li Hongli matched Filimonov's lift of 173 kilograms in the snatch but then missed all three tries at 197.5 in the clean and jerk. The two Asian lifters broke the mark of 172.5 set by Plamen Zhelyazkov of Bulgaria in March.

Kazakhstan also won a shooting gold, lifting its total to six.

Malaysia ended its gold drought with two victories Friday, but missed another one it had counted on.

Wendy Chai and Sarah Yap won 2,589 to 2,558 against South Koreans Cha Mi-jung and Kim Soo-kyung in women's doubles bowling, and Asian champion Ong Beng Hee beat Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman 9- 0, 9-7, 9-0 in men's squash.

But Malaysia's other Asian squash champion, Nicol David, lost 9-7, 9-5, 9-7 to Hong Kong's Rebecca Chiu, whom she had beaten in the Asian championship in May.

Vietnam won its first gold in carom free ball (Partie Libre) billiards, with Tran Dinh Hoam beating compatriot Duong Hoang Anh 400-142.

In gymnastics, Uzbekistan's Oksana Chusovitina won the women's vault and said younger gymnasts can learn from her that age is not a barrier.

South Korea's Kim Seung-il won the men's floor exercises, with China's Yang Wei, the all-around champion here, taking the bronze. Yang, the Olympic all-around silver medalist, also had helped China win the men's team here.

The other golds were shared between China's Teng Haibin and North Korea's Kim Hyon Il on the pommel horse, China's Huang Xu and South Korea's Kim Dong-hwa on the rings, and China's Zhang Nan and North Korea's Han Jong Ok on the women's uneven bars.

In cycling, Taiwan's Lin Chih-hsan won the men's 1-kilometer time trial by less than 0.4 seconds over Japan's Keiichi Omori.

China's Jiang Yonghua won the women's race 0.7 ahead of Japan's Sayuri Osuga.

Thailand's Pongsiree Bunluewong won the individual championship on a horse named "Mr. A" in the equestrian three-day event.

Japan took the men's beach volleyball gold when Katsuhiro Shiratori and Satoshi Watanabe beat Indonesians Agus Salim and Koko Darkuncoro 29-27, 21-17. The women's final was an all- Chinese affair.

After winning 13 of 14 shooting golds decided Wednesday and Thursday, China's shooters added four more Friday in the women's individual and team 25-meter pistol event and the men's individual and team running target competition.

Kazakhstan's Olga Dovgun won the women's individual 50-meter prone rifle event, 597 to 596 over South Korea's Lee Mi-kyung.