India Bag Gold In Kabaddi, Beat Iran In Goof-Up Final

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The penultimate day of the Asian Games was overshadowed by a controversial kabaddi final that was suspended for an hour on Saturday, as South Korea won a third men's football title in a row.
The curtain comes down on the biggest Asian Games in history, boasting 12,000 athletes, today after two weeks of competition across 40 sports.
On Saturday was the most action-packed of the fortnight, with Gold medals up for grabs in 24 sports including football, cricket, badminton, kabaddi, hockey and breakdancing.
India have surpassed all expectations by breaching the century mark of medals for the first time at an Asian Games.
It bodes well for the Paris Olympics, which are less than 10 months away.
In early action on a grey and soggy day in Hangzhou, India swept up two golds in archery and another in women's kabaddi.
But what should have been a day of celebration came with a large dollop of controversy.
The men's kabaddi final against Iran descended into chaos and was suspended, before India finally sealed the title.
Kabaddi is a tag-meets-rugby contact team sport rooted in Indian mythology and said to date back 5,000 years.
A captivating final was locked at 28-28 with just over a minute left when India went on a crucial“raid” for points, with both teams claiming they should get the decision.
That sparked a prolonged video review, then a standoff and the suspension of the final, as numerous officials checked the footage and attempted to make a ruling.
The action in what was an eagerly anticipated showdown was put on hold as both teams at different points appeared to refuse to play and argued their case.
Order was eventually restored with the score at 31-29 in India's favour.
Iran reluctantly carried on but they were deflated and quickly slumped to a 33-29 defeat, sparking wild Indian celebrations.
Iran's coach Gholamreza Mazandarani pointed the finger at the officials and also accused the Indian team of putting pressure on the referees.
“This is very bad, very bad for kabaddi,” he said of the fractious scenes.
India also sealed men's cricket gold in a similarly anti-climactic fashion.
They were declared winners of the final against Afghanistan under an Asian Games-specific rule where the higher-ranked team takes the honours if the match cannot be finished, in this case due to rain.
It consigned Afghanistan to a third consecutive silver.
India reached the end of the day with 107 medals in total, 28 of those gold.
But they will still finish a long way behind China in the overall medals table when the Games wrap up today. The hosts are well ahead of the rest with 382 medals in total, 200 of them gold.
In the men's football final, Paris Saint-Germain star Lee Kang-in helped South Korea win Games gold for the third time in a row - and earn a military exemption.
South Korea retained their crown after recovering from going a goal down after only two minutes to beat Japan 2-1.
Cho Young-wook scored the winning goal in the second half in a competition featuring under-24 squads plus three overage players.
Nearly every able-bodied South Korean male is required to perform at least 18 months of service, but the government rewards Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medals of any colour with an exemption.
Uzbekistan beat Hong Kong 4-0 to win the bronze medal.
The first medals in Asian Games history were at stake in breakdancing, ahead of making another landmark debut at next year's Paris Games.
The history-makers were Japan's Shigeyuki Nakarai in winning the men's crown while Liu Qingyi of China triumphed in the women's category.
Badminton world number one An Se-young beat China's Chen Yufei in a gruelling final to win on Saturday and add another title to her stunning breakout year.
The South Korean won the first game 21-18 in a close fight in Hangzhou that sent both players diving to the ground to return shots.
Top-ranked An hurt her knee during the first game and was attended to by medics.
The scrape seemed to break her momentum in the second game, which Olympic champion Chen won 21-17.
The South Korean staged a remarkable comeback in the third, crushing her opponent 21-8 despite most of the audience cheering for the Chinese player.
An emotional An embraced her coaches after her victory, with both players limping off court.
In an incredible 2023, the 21-year-old An has risen to number one for the first time and now won 10 titles, including the world championship.
“No matter what, I worked hard to play this match well and I didn't overthink it,” An told AFP.
Silver medallist Chen said the 90-minute match had left her with blisters on her feet and cramp in her legs.
“I'm still very happy because the silver medal is still something I worked hard to earn,” she said, adding that she had“a lot to learn” from An.
The home crowd still had plenty to celebrate as Li Shifeng beat fellow Chinese player Shi Yuqi to win the men's singles title.
Li defeated former world silver-medallist Shi 23-21, 21-13 and celebrated by ripping off his shirt and performing a backflip.
In the men's doubles final, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made history for India with their country's first badminton gold at the Asian Games ever.
China won the mixed doubles and women's doubles.

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