Sports / Games News
Qatar save best for last with soccer gold, China get 165th
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-12-16 13:29
DOHA, Dec 15 -Host nation Qatar signed off the 15th Asian Games in style
beating Iraq 1-0 in the men's soccer final, but they had to settle for
silver in basketball as China clinched their 165th gold medal of the Doha
spectacle.
While China could not match their Games record of 183 golds captured in
Beijing 16 years ago, the world's most populous nation were out of sight
at the top of the medals table.
Second-placed South Korea stood on 58 golds ahead of traditional rivals
Japan on 50, while Kazakhstan were the best of the rest with 23.
Qatari defender Bilal Rajab was an accidental hero in the soccer final
against Iraq at Al-Sadd stadium.
A cross from the left wing bounced off Rajab's head and into the Iraq net
while he was looking the other way, giving Qatar the only goal of the
game.
The gold medal was the first of any colour Qatar have won in men's soccer
at the Asian Games.
Despite their gold-grabbing performance in Doha, China believe they could
have done better in the last major multi-sport event before the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
"Despite the fact that China successfully fulfilled its set goal for the
Doha Asian Games, we are well aware of our weaknesses when analysing our
performance," chef de mission Liu Peng told a news conference.
"We must redouble our efforts to meet the coming greater challenges," Liu
added.
'I'LL TAKE IT'
China kept their foot on the pedal on the final day of competition with
their men's basketball team picking up their fifth title in the last six
Asian Games.
The Chinese strolled to a 59-44 victory over hosts Qatar, paced by former
NBA player Wang Zhizhi's 28 points.
China's coach Jonas Kazlauskas praised his entire team but singled out
Wang for his "unimaginable" talent.
"The final was a really good level of basketball, and how we beat our
opponents was a really big success," he said.
Iran's track cycling bronze medal on Thursday could mean better
conditions for the country's cyclists.
Vice President Mohammad Aliabadi, one of Iran's seven vice presidents and
responsible for sport policy, saw the men's madison team win bronze and
pledged to buy them a wooden track to replace a crumbling concrete
velodrome in Tehran.
"I just spoke to him -- our performance pleased him greatly," Asghar
Khalegh, secretary-general of Iran's cycling federation, told Reuters.
"He has promised to buy us a new one just like this," he said, pointing
to the Doha race track.
"If Qatar will sell this one, we'll buy it."
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