Chinese notch up another wieght lifting world record

Phil Brown, Associated Press, Busan, South Korea

A Chinese woman gave the Asian Games its seventh day of weightlifting world records on Monday, and Kazakhstan's Valeriy Borissov walked 20 kilometers for a three-second victory.

While Borissov's victory opened the games' track and field competition, South Korea swept five gold medals in a regional version of tennis and added two in shooting and one each in cycling and athletics.

The games also had their first case of an athlete facing loss of a medal over doping violations. Lebanese bodybuilder Yousseff el-Zetn, bronze medalist in the over-90-kilogram division, did not take a mandatory drug test, and the decision to take away his medal will be just a formality, officials said.

Weightlifter Sun Ruiping's world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and total in the 75-kilometer division helped China increase its overall gold total to 97. World records now have been broken or tied in seven of the 10 weight divisions contested so far.

Sun, a 21-year-old first-year student at Beijing Sports University, said she had never expected to "embark on this road."

"I was accidentally chosen by a coach for weightlifting when I was very young," she said.

Chinese also won two golds in shooting and one each in cycling and walking.

South Korea lifted its total to 41 thanks to its sweep of men's and women's singles and doubles and mixed doubles in softball tennis, which has both a different ball and different scoring system than regular tennis.

Japan had 30 after winning gold in five-woman team bowling and men's team tennis, where it beat South Korea in the final.

In the men's 20-kilometer walk, Borissov trailed the leaders until the last kilometer. Pushing ahead, he beat China's Yu Chaohong by three seconds with a time of 1 hour, 24 minutes, 20 seconds.

Then China's Wang Qingqing led a 1-2 Chinese finish in the women's race. She needed 1:33:40 to finish.

In the stadium later, Saudi Arabia won its first gold of the games when Makhld Al-Otaibi surged ahead on the final lap and beat Qatar's Ahmed Ibrahim M.W. Hashim by 1.64 seconds in the men's 10,000 meters.

South Korea's Lee Young-sun won the women's javelin competition, ahead of two Chinese.

India went undefeated through five matches in kabaddi, a south Asian sport resembling team tag, and finished its gold-medal run with a 37-7 victory over Pakistan. Bangladesh, a 55-15 winner over Sri Lanka on Monday, took the silver and Pakistan won the bronze.

In a break in the Chinese monopoly on shooting golds, Turkmenistan won its first of the games when Igor Pirekeev outscored China's Yao Ye 1,266.9 to 1,260.5 in men's 50-meter, three-position rifle competition. China won the team event.

North Korea's Kim Jong Su won the men's 25-meter center-fire pistol shooting, but China again won the team competition.

South Korea won the women's team skeet shooting, with Son Hye- kyoung taking the individual gold.

Of 38 shooting events so far, China has won 26.

China's cycling gold came when its quartet beat Iran's by 2.355 seconds in the men's 4-kilometer team pursuit.

South Korean Kim Yong-mi won the women's 24-kilometer points race, well ahead of Japan's Ayumu Otsuka.

The Philippines won its second gold of the games when Francisco Bustamante and Antonio Lining defeated South Korea's Jeong Young-hwa and Kim Won-suk 11-9 in 9-ball pool doubles.

Japan's five-woman bowling team outscored South Korea 6,389 to 6,273 for its gold medal.

In the doping violation case, Jang Bo-young, general secretary of the bodybuilding commission for the Asian Games, said el-Zetn left Busan Citizens Hall after winning his medal Sunday without submitting to the required drug test.

He said the Lebanese team was unable to persuade the athlete to show up for the test by 2 a.m. Monday.

The Asian Bodybuilding Federation met and decided to recommend that el-Zetn be stripped of his medal. It also banned him from competition for two years.

The Olympic Council of Asia was expected to meet to formally take away the medal, and promote a South Korean competitor to third place.

Earlier, Yemeni medal hope Sharaf Al Shaer and two teammates were prevented from competing in bodybuilding for not submitting drug test results before the event.

Three Malaysian sepak takraw players were sent home after results from a test back home showed they had taken morphine, team officials said.