Asian Games: Japan enjoys field day in the pool, but judoka fall flat

DOHA, Dec. 4 Kyodo

Japan dominated the swimming at the Asian Games on Monday, taking gold in four of the day's seven events, and also struck gold in cycling, but Japanese judoka again landed with a bump.

China extended its gold medal haul to 38, more than three times the number of its nearest rival Japan, but several smaller nations also made their mark on the third full day of competition.

Host Qatar got its first medal of the Games with a bronze in the women's 10-meter running target team event, while Igor Pirekeev also shot Turkmenistan onto the medals board by taking silver in the men's 50-meter rifle prone.

Thailand struck double-gold, with the women's 50-meter rifle prone team edging China and Pawina Thongsuk winning the women's 63-kilogram with a new world record in the clean and jerk to become the first non-Chinese titlist in weightlifting at the Doha Games.

Weightlifting also gave Myanmar its first medals, with Yar Thet Pan taking silver in the women's 69-kg event and Thaw Yae Faw bronze in the 63-kg class, and there were golden gongs for Saudi Arabia and Syria, the former on the bowling alley in the men's doubles and the latter in the pool in the men's 50-meter freestyle.

The day began well for Japan when Kaori Mori and Eriko Hirose won their badminton singles matches to secure a 3-0 victory over Singapore and reach the women's team final for the first time in 20 years for a showdown with China, which beat South Korea 3-0 in the other semifinal.

Japan then powered to an early gold in cycling, as Mayuko Hagiwara produced a devastating late burst to win the women's 113-kilometer road race in a time of 3:06:10, ahead of China's Na Zhao and South Korea's Han Song Hee, with teammate Miho Oki in fourth.

But it later was at the Hamad Aquatic Center that Japan raked in the medals, bagging nine in seven events.

Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima successfully defended his Asian Games 100-meter title, leading a 1-2 finish with Makoto Yamashita in 1:01.13, just 24 hours after ending as runner-up to Vladislav Polyakov of Kazakhstan in the 50-meter race.

Then 16-year-old high school student Ryosuke Irie won gold in the men's 200-meter backstroke in 1:58.85, with China's Ouyang Kunpeng taking silver and Japan's Takashi Nakano bronze, while in the women's 200-meter butterfly Yurie Yano took gold in 2:09.08, beating Choi Hye Ra of South Korea into second, as Athens Olympics bronze medalist Yuko Nakanishi came in third.

Japan's 4x200 freestyle relay team then won the country's fourth swimming gold of the day by edging China in a thrilling final, with opening-leg swimmer Takeshi Matsuda setting a new national record of 1:47.83 in the process.

China took two golds in the pool, Zhao Jing winning the women's 50 backstroke and Yang Jieqiao the women's 400 freestyle, while the men's 50-meter freestyle was won by Syria's Rafd Zyad Almasri in 22.41, Japan's Makoto Ito having to settle for silver.

Reiko Nakamura added a bronze in the women's 50-meter backstroke, while in the women's 400-meter freestyle Haruka Ueda could only manage fourth, the one final in which Japan failed to win a medal.

But in judo Japan ended the day without a single gold.

Masahiro Takamatsu was left in a state of shock after Athens Olympic champion Lee Won Hee sent him sprawling with a brilliant shoulder throw after 1 minute, 33 seconds of the men's 73-kg final, just minutes after Aiko Sato was sent tumbling by China's Xu Yan in the women's 57-kg final at the Qatar Sports Club Indoor Hall.

Earlier, Takamatsu had beaten Aidar Kabimollayev of Kazakhstan with a ''koka'' in the golden score to reach the semifinals, where he dumped North Korean Kim Chol Su with a shoulder throw with 1:38 remaining.

Sato, who had struggled against South Korea's Kang Sin Young in the semis before sending her to the mat with an inner leg trip in the golden score, had barely set foot on the mat in the final before Xu sent her crashing after just nine seconds with a single leg take down technique.

Athens Olympic silver medalist Yuki Yokosawa managed only a bronze at 52 kg, sweeping India's Angom Anita Chanu for an ippon after 3:00. Yokosawa lost in the semis by a ''yuko'' point to North Korea's An Kum Ae, who went on to take the gold over Mongolian Bundmaa Munkhbaataar.

Meanwhile, rising star Hiroyuki Akimoto lost in the quarterfinals to Mongolia's Tsagaanbaatar Haskhbaatar in the men's under 66 kg, leaving him out of contention for a gold, but got a bronze with an ippon win over Guvanch Nurmuhammedov of Turkmenistan using a shoulder throw with only 39 seconds left. Haskhbaatar won gold, while Iranian two-time world champion Arash Miresmaeili took silver.

In gymnastics, Hisashi Mizutori and Hiroyuki Tomita fell short in their bids to upend newly crowned Chinese world champion Yang Wei, finishing with silver and bronze in the men's all-around final.

Mizutori collected his second silver in Doha as the 2005 world championship runner-up collected 93.400 points, 2.100 behind Yang who topped three of the six disciplines in winning his second straight Asian Games crown. But Mizutori, who earned the highest marks in the floor exercise and rings, became the best Japanese all-around performer since Naoya Tsukahara took bronze at the 1998 Bangkok Games.