Drug use and brawling leave stain on Asian Games
(Reuters)Updated: 2006-12-10 20:58
Doha - Drug-use and an on-pitch battle stained the 10th day of the Asian Games on Sunday as two athletes were disqualified for doping and two fighting hockey teams had to be separated by security guards.
Uzbekistan weightlifters Alexander Urinov and Elmira Ramileva failed dope tests, Urinov for a cannabis metabolite and Ramileva for a banned steroid, and were disqualified.
The hockey teams from Oman and Bangladesh also had little to be proud of after brawling at the end of their pool game at the Al-Rayyan Sports Club.
Bangladesh scored twice in the final four minutes to win 5-3 and the game spiralled out of control in the final stages with players squaring up to each other.
At the final whistle, violence broke out and security guards charged on to the pitch from all corners to pull players apart.
A Bangladeshi player had to be carried off on a stretcher.
"It's all because of the pressure. The players were nervous and the referees didn't do their job well. They were supporting the Bangladesh team," raged Oman coach Mohy Zaghloul.
Bangladesh captain Musa Mia hit out at the Omani tactics.
"The Omanis were not playing a very fair game," he said. "If the ball goes by they were only tackling the players, hitting them with their sticks."
Goalscorer Rasel Mahmud Jimmy aimed a swipe at the losers. "The game was good, the Omanis played rubbish," he said.
Athletics Gold
Qatar's Mubarak Hassan Shami won the first athletics gold of the day, taking the men's marathon in 2:12.44.
Bahrain's Khalid Kamal Taseen and Japan's Satoshi Osaki had a titanic tussle for silver, Taseen winning it on a photo-finish after both were timed at 2:15.36.
In decathlon, 2002 Asian Games champion Qi Haifeng of China pulled out of the event after injuring his leg while warming up for the first discipline at the Khalifa Stadium.
Qi took only a few steps out of the blocks in the 100m before pulling up and clutching the top of his left thigh.
"Qi Haifeng can't continue his race in the decathlon," a Chinese athletic delegation official said.
"In the morning, when he was doing preparation, his muscle in the leg was injured which caused him to give up the 100m. Even with the injury, he wanted to have a try, but he couldn't make it."
The men's and women's 400m finals feature later on Sunday along with the men's 1,500m gold medal race.
The beach volleyball semi-finals are slated for this evening while synchronised diving takes centre stage at the Hamad Aquatic Centre.
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