Asian Games: Kabaddi kerfuffle overshadows day as South Korea retain football crown

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 Sunday on the biggest Asian Games in history, boasting 12,000 athletes, after two weeks of competition across 40 sports.

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.

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 “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.

Iran 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.

India reached the end of the day with 107 medals in total, 28 of those gold.

But they will finish a long way behind China in the final medals table. The hosts are well ahead of the rest with 382 medals, 200 of them gold.

In the men’s football final, Paris Saint-Germain star Lee Kang-in helped South Korea win gold for the third time in a row — and earn a military exemption.

South Korea recovered from going a goal down after only two minutes to beat Japan 2-1.

Cho Young-wook scored the winner 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.

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.

It also earned them each a spot in Paris.

“When I started breaking, nobody imagined it would be part of an Olympics,” said Nakarai.

Badminton world number one An Se-young beat China’s Chen Yufei over three gruelling games to win gold and add another title to her stunning breakout year.

“I couldn’t be happier. It’s taken me five years of preparation to be here,” said An.

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