Asian Games: Day five of competition

ALL THE NEWS, ACTION AND REACTION

By Duncan Mackay and Nick Butler in Incheon
Click refresh for latest updates. All times stated are South Korean

BREAKING: Identity of first positive doping test of Asian Games confirmed. Tajikistan footballer Khurshed Beknazarov fails for Methylhexaneamine (See 10:55-11:10). Read our full article here.

Malaysian and Cambodian reportedly failing doping test (see 18:32) and Qatar forfeit women's basketball match after banned from wearing headgear (see 17:18-17:40).

Good night!

23:00 Join us again tomorrow bright and early at 09:00 for the best of all the action. But for now it is good night, or good afternoon or even good morning depending on where you are in the world.

23:57 Tomorrow we have another 38 gold medals to be won, including the men and women's individual triathlon races, as well as the final day of track cycling and a shooting extravaganza in which 10 gold medals will be won. It is also the final day in rowing, artistic gymnastics and weightlifting, and the penultimate day in swimming.

23:52 So good to see a first gold medal for Singapore today in the pool, while a good day for Kazakhstan with a couple of victories, while North Korea and Iran and Mongolia all managed a further one. Things not so rosy however, for India, who are still languishing below Kuwait, the only Arab nation to have won a gold here in Incheon so far.

Plenty ongoing away from the medals today - as well as Sheikh Ahmad playing baseball - with confirmation of the first failed doping test of the Games, and suspicions raised about a further two (see above). We also had that intriguing story about the Qatari basketball team, an issue you can expect to continue to generate headlines for a good while yet.

Day five medals table ©ITG

Sheikh Ahmad a baseball natural?

23:43 One more piece of good news for the host nation. The have won that all important baseball clash in emphatic fashion, 10-0 over Taiwan. Incidentally, here is Olympic Council of Asian President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah having a go at the sport earlier during a visit around the Games venues...

OCA President Sheikh Ahmad having a go at baseball ©Getty Images

OCA President Sheikh Ahmad having a go at baseball ©Getty Images

22:36 So the end of another day here at the Asian Games, a little bit earlier than last night when the badminton final kept us entertained until almost midnight. But it has been another exciting day today on day five, with gymnastics apparatus action, team tennis medal matches, wushu sparring and rowing finals all adding extra excitement. China have still had the best of the day, with five wins in wushu and four each in swimming and rowing, although South Korea and Japan have had their usual medals glut.

China scoop two more gymnastics titles to end day five on a golden note

Incheon 2014 gold medal

22:26 It's a dominant victory for Yao Jinnan in the end on the bars, the class act in the field going out last to win with a score of 15.466 in an event in which the Chinese have always thrived. Compatriot Huang Huidan takes silver while the bronze goes to early leader Kang Yong-mi of North Korea.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

22:20 Before that finishes, the rings have and Liao Junlin has won the second Chinese gymnastics gold this evening. Liao scored a total of 15.566 points. Kazuyuki Takeda of Japan took second with a total of 15.100 points, and Nam Dang of Vietnam took a bronze medal with 15.033 points.

22:12 There's some nerves on the uneven bars, as Kang Yongmi of North Korea holds the lead with 13.633, but both Chinese and the South Korean entry are left.

"Age is just a number"

22:01 Oksana Chusovitina may have been competing before most of her rivals were born, but she has no plans to quit, well, perhaps ever...

Quote marks

"Age is just a number. I'm not specially motivated but I'm doing it frankly because I love the sport. When I come to the podium I feel like a fish in the water. I hope to make my seventh Olympic game in Rio de Janeiro. Seven is my favorite number."
- Oksana Chusovitina after finishing runner-up for Uzbekistan on the vault at the age of 39.

21:53 A fencing action-shot to bring from earlier, as we turn our gaze back to gymnastics for the final two medals to be won tonight.

A good action shot of South Korea stabbbing their way past Iran in the sabre final earlier on ©AFP/Getty Images

A good action shot of South Korea stabbbing their way past Iran in the sabre final earlier on ©AFP/Getty Images

Gold medals shared around in gymnastics as tennis concludes

21:45 So, with just the gymnastics to come, there is time for a brief round-up of what is happening elsewhere in the team events tonight, although the pick of the bunch as far as we're concerned was that brilliant handball victory for Oman a little earlier (see 21:00).

A big win for China this evening, 2-1 over India in women's hockey while South Korea got the better of Japan in other second stage action. More comfortable wins for South Korea in men's basketball over Mongolia and over Taiwan in men's volleyball, while Japan have also beaten Kuwait in basketball, while Taiwan got the better of Kazakhstan in women's volleyball.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

21:34 Confirmation now that Kazakhstan have won the men's team event in tennis. Mikhail Kukushkin shows his class by winning 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 to confirm a 2-0 match victory over China, after Aleksandr Nedovyesov's win earlier. The two bronze medals go to Japan and Uzbekistan.

21:28 Or rather, we won't. The signal is so bad at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts that the television flickers out after every 10 seconds or so. We will go back to the tennis in a moment, but the final medal events of the evening, the men's rings and women's uneven bars in gymnastics, have begun.

21:24 Over at the tennis and Mikhail Kukushkin is leading Zheng Ye 5-2 in the deciding set and is serving for the gold medal! And he is at advantage...So after a lot of success in so many other sports, another tennis team title is about to slip from China's grasp...

But Zheng Ye somehow has fought back to break and win the game! Brilliant stuff. I have persuaded my South Korean colleague to give on baseball for five minutes and we will see this one out...

Sun Yang leads China to yet another gold medal in the pool

Incheon 2014 gold medal

21:17 As the picture below suggests, China have won the final gold of the night in the pool. They set an Asian record of 3:13.47, with Japan taking silver with 3:14. 38 and South Korea clocking 3:18.44 for bronze.

The Chinese foursome of Yu Hexin, Lin Yongqing, Sun Yang and Ning Zetao were in second place during the first half of the race, but as soon as Sun dived into the water China quickly took the lead and finished first place while breaking the Asian record in the process. For Japan, Shinri Shioura, Rammaru Harada, Takuro Fujii and Katsumi Nakamura challenged by trailing close in the race, but failed to get ahead.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kim Sung-kyum, Yang June-hyuck and Nam Ki-woong and a certain Park Tae-hwan were initially behind Hong Kong, racing in fourth position, but Nam's sprint put the team to third with just 100m left for Park. Yet there was too much of a margin for Park to chase down Japan and the host nation had to settle for bronze. However, the South Koreans put on a spectacular fight for the home crowd as they achieved a new national

record in addition to their medal.

China celebrate their 4x100m freestyle relay triumph ©AFP/Getty Images

21:13 The gold medals are being shared around a bit tonight in the gymnastics, which is always good to see. Masayoshi Yamamoto of Japan wins on the pommel horse with a score of 15.033. A brilliant performance, particularly because this is not an event he is particularly associated with.

A good evening for Uzbekistan continues as Abdulla Azimov takes silver, while Park Min-soo takes bronze for South Korea.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

21:08 A first gold for North Korea in a sport other than weightlifting, and Hong Un-jong has won the vault final we were previewing earlier, with a score of 15.349. In second place, is the evergreen 39-year-old Oxana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan - formerly Soviet Union, Unified Team and Germany - while Phan Thi Ha Thanh takes bronze.

21:05 So much going on around Incheon this evening. Even without any judo action it is definitely are busiest evening yet. Though it is lacking something...I think it's badminton...

Swimming and gymnastics medals rush, with fencing, weightlifting and tennis

21:00 South Korea are still leading Taiwan, 9-0, in the baseball after that brilliant start, but over at the handball, an amazing match has just finished. Oman's cinderella story has continued, as they upset Iran 26-25 on the first day of second round action! Nasir Al Tamtami scored the winning goal in the final minute and As Ad Al Hasani led the way for Oman with six goals, while Omid Sekenari scored seven times for Iran.

20:56 A quick tennis update before we turn our attention back to gymnastics. Mikhail Kukushkin romped through the first set 6-0 against Zhang Ze and seemed to have put Kazakhstan on the cusp of team gold. But then, somehow, Zhang took the second set 6-3. Kukushkin need to regroup and it looks like he may have done, going up an early break to lead 2-0 in the third.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

20:52 And there's yet more success for China to report in the pool, where Fu Yuanhui has taken a comfortable 100m backstroke gold medal in 59.95. Yekaterina Rudenko of Kazakhstan is 0.66 behind in second place as Wang Xueer makes it a second Chinese representative on the podium, with bronze.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

20:47 Two Asian Games records as Tian Tao takes makes it two out of two for China today in weightlifting. He first breaks the clean and jerk record by lifting 218kg, and then also the total lift record with 381kg. Kianoush Rostami of Iran takes silver, while bronze goes to Ulugbek Alimov of Uzbekistan.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

20:44 Starting with fencing. It is four from four now in team events after South Korea men's sabre team defeat Iran comfortably, 45-26, to get the gold medal. South Korea's team consisted of men's sabre gold medalist Gu Bong-il, silver medalist Kim Jung-hwan, Won Woo-young, and Oh Euns-eok.

This amended for their final defeat to China in this event four years ago in Guangzhou. Incidentally, in taking gold tonight, South Korea earned a fifth consecutive Asian Games team foil title. That is quite some effort.

20:40 A glut of other recently won gold medals to bring you up to date with now...

China celebrate water polo gold ©AFP/Getty Images

China celebrate water polo gold ©AFP/Getty Images

Japan battle with Singapore in the final match

20:36 That means, China take the gold medal, Japan the silver and Kazakhstan the bronze. Although men's water polo has been on the programme for the Asian Games ever since 1951, a women's event was only introduced four years ago in Guangzhou.

Because only those six teams were participating here, it was decided to hold in a round-robin format only. Not having a final does lose something, but a good win nonetheless for China.

20:33 One event we've been a little behind on is the women's water polo. It's a round-robin format, with no knock-out matches. In the final three matches today, Uzbekistan thrashed Hong Kong 18-1, China saw off Kazakhstan 11-6 and Japan annihilated Singapore, 23-1 in the final match this evening.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

20:28 Back indoors and in the pool, and Kosuke Hagino has just broken the two-day Japanese swimming duck and won the men's 400m individual medley title. He stops the clock at 4:07.75 to win his fourth gold, and sixth medal, of the Games. Yang Zhixian of China is a fairly distant second, while Daiya Seto of Japan places third.

Why not to have a roof on a tennis court...

20:23 A quick photo break, an amazing one in fact of the sky during the tennis earlier as Taiwan battled to gold over China. That is why we got those typhoon warnings yesterday.

Weather and tennis neatly juxtaposed during the women's team final ©Getty Images

Weather and tennis neatly juxtaposed during the women's team final ©Getty Images

20:17 A first gold tonight in fencing. A thrilling 32-27 victory for South Korea in the women's foil over China for a third straight team gold for the host nation in the sport. Even some of the baseball fans were distracted momentarily... as Jeon Heesook, Oh Hana, Nam Hyunhee and Kim Mina parry, flick and stab their way to gold. A second gold of the Games for Jeon after her earlier individual success.

Two bronze medals, remember, and these go to Hong Kong and Japan.

20:12 The vault final in gymnastics is underway. I hope this doesn't come across badly, but with two athletes from Uzbekistan, North Korea and Vietnam, plus one each from Hong Kong and India, it is refreshing to see an event with no medal contender from either China, Japan or South Korea, the three dominant nations at the Asian Games. Dipa Karmakar of India scores 14.683 up first, with each gymnast having two vaults each, while the men's pommel horse event is also about to begin.

20:06 Jiao finished outside the Asian Games record of 2:05.79 that she herself swam when winning four years ago in Guangzhou. Compatriot Liu Zige holds the world record, a remarkable 2:01.81 from back in 2009.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

20:03 Back in the pool and Jiao Liuyang has won a high quality women's 200m butterfly final. The reigning Olympic and 2011 world champion winning in 2:07.56, to beat Olympic bronze medallist, Natsumi Hoshi of Japan. Another Japanese swimmer, Miyu Nakano, places third.

A 39 year-old gymnast going for gold?

19:57 Up next is the vault final, and it is Hong Un-jong of North Korea, the Beijing Olympics vault gold medalist, against Chusovita Oksana, who is often dubbed a legend in women's gymnastics, will meet in the vault final at the Namdong Gymnasium.

Chusovitina, 39, has competed at her first World Championships in 1991 and must be one of the only athletes in the history of sport to have competed for four different teams: namely the Soviet Union, the Unified Team, Germany and currently Uzbekistan. And this in a sport where athletes peak young!

Oksana Chusovitina competing for Germany at London 2012 ©AFP/Getty Images

Oksana Chusovitina competing for Germany at London 2012 ©AFP/Getty Images

She is only competing on the vault here due to an injury concern.."I had a foot injury a few days ago during the podium training, and today when I was warming up, I felt my foot was still not ready for all-round," she told Xinhua. "So I decided just to do vault today. I hope my foot will recover and compete in all-round at the World Championships."

Chusovitina has won 11 World Championship medals and two Olympic medals, but all of the hardware since 1992 has come on vault. She hasn't competed on all four events and qualified for a global championship all-around final since the 2008 Olympics, when she finished ninth for Germany. Chusovitina finished fifth in the World Championships vault final last year after switching country back to Uzbekistan after London 2012.

Hong Un-jong topped the preliminary rounds as she won a total score of 15.350 in the competition. Chusovitina recorded 14.675, where she appeared to be limping

Evening action hotting up at Nanjing 2014 with swimming and gymnastics medals rush

Incheon 2014 gold medal

19:52 Confirmation now that Zou Kai has won the floor exercise in gymnastics with his score 15.533 proving unassailable. Huang Yuguo stays in second place for a Chinese 1-2 and Yuya Kamoto slots into third position with a score of 14.933.

19:46 We're still not quite sure what is going on in the tennis. The second match, between Mikhail Kukushkin and Zhang Ze, does appear to have begun, but they've only played a couple of games according to our information, which is strange considering the last match finished a while ago.

Kazakhstan however, are already 1-0 up on China in the best of three event, and Kukushkin is the higher ranked player here, the world number 86, so could wrap this up tonight.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

19:42 A second gold medal for teenage Kazakh star Dmitriy Balandin. After his 200m breaststroke exploits last nights, he dips under the one minute barrier to win over 100m event in 59.92. What has happened to Japan? They suddenly can't win in the pool.

They do take silver courtesy of Yasuhiro Koseki, while Li Xiang takes bronze for China.

Joseph Schooling of Singapore celebrates 100m butterfly gold ©AFP/Getty Images

Joseph Schooling of Singapore celebrates 100m butterfly gold ©AFP/Getty Images

19:35 In gymnastics, the reigning Olympic champion Zou Kai is the favourite in the opening event of the evening, on the floor. And he scored 15.533 to take the lead! Team mate Huang Yuguo scores 15.300 for second place. Only Yuya Kamoto of Japan is left, the all around champion from last night...

Pressure on for South Korean baseball team

19:28 The might be medals being won everywhere tonight but, as far as our South Korean hosts are concerned, there is only one event that matters, a crucial preliminary round baseball clash with Taiwan, their closest rivals in their group. They need to win this or face meeting arch-rivals Japan in the semi-final rather than the final. And it couldn't be better so far. They lead 9-0 after two innings.

Baseball is the biggest sport in South Korea, ahead of football, I am told. This is their equivalent moment to the Russian ice hockey team at Sochi 2014, and win gold in baseball, and the Games are a success. It's funny listening to the commentary - as a backstop just has a ball smashed into his grill - in Korean but with the occasionally familiar word, like "home-run" permeating their prose.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

19:22 China take the second gold. Shen Duo claims 200m freestyle honours, in 1:57.66, ahead of Chihiro Igarashi of Japan and Tang Yi of China.

Shen came 26th in this event at the World Championships last year in Barcelona, but after four gold medals at the Summer Youth Olympic Games last month, the 17-year-old has already notched four more here, two relays and the 100m as well.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

19:16 We were going to tip him early and never quite got around to it. but Joseph Isaac Schooling of Singapore has won the first gold of the night in the pool. He takes the 100m butterfly in an Asian Games record 51.76 to defeat Li Zhuhao of China and Hirofumi Ikebata of Japan.

Schooling, a seven time champion at various South East Asian Games, won a silver medal in this event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier this summer.

19:12 The first of five gymnastics apparatus finals has begun. It's the men's floor competition up first, but the first of seven swimming finals this evening has already got underway...

19:07 The second match in the men's competition has not begun, so it's possible action has ended for the night, with darkness having set in. Quite hard to get information from the Yeorumul Tennis Courts but we will confirm what is happening as soon as we hear.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

19:05 Taiwan have, after six hours and three minutes of tennis, and plenty of in-between time as well, won the women's team competition. Chan Yung Jan and Hsieh Su Wei made to work harder in the second set, but they take it 7-5 for a brilliant victory over Zhang Shuai and Zheng Jie.

A superb performance by the Taiwanese. Rather like South Korea last night in the badminton, they got off to a great start, then rallied again when the pressure was inflicted.

Xiang Yanmei en route to weightlifting gold ©AFP/Getty Images

Xiang Yanmei en route to weightlifting gold ©AFP/Getty Images

18:58 Xiang Yanmei breaks the Asian Games record en route to under 69kg weightlifting glory for China. She lifts a total of 268kg to fend off Ryo Unhui of North Korea and Hunag Shih Hsu of Taiwan, who take silver and bronze.

18:53 There will be medals won left, right and centre from 19:00 with swimming and gymnastics apparatus finals. But a few other things to get up to date before then..

Japan take cycling gold

18:46 There's more Taiwanese success to bring you away from the medals as well. After three of the six events that make up the omnium, Hsiao Mei Yu of Taiwan is the joint leader with Yuo Xiaoling of China, with each tied on 114 points. That will be one of three gold medals contested on the final day of action tomorrow, along with the men's keirin and women's sprint.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

18:42 A gold medal to update you on from the velodrome now. Seiichiro Nakagawa has won the all-Japanese individual sprint final. He beat compatriot Tomoyuki Kawabata in two straight races in the final. Bao Seifei of China took bronze after getting the better of Awang Mohd Azizulhasni Bin of Malaysia.

Cambodian soft tennis player and Malaysian wushu player reportedly fail drugs tests

18:32 More doping related news to report now. Chinese news agency Xinhua are reporting that athletes from Cambodia and Malaysia have failed doping tests. They are quoting an unnamed source close to the OCA at this stage.

The Cambodian is a female soft tennis player and the Malaysian is a male wushu athlete, according to the source. This follows the positive test, involving Tajikistani footballer Khurshed Beknazarov, was confirmed this morning.

Evening sporting action on day five: tennis, cycling track and bowling

18:25 There's a lot of excitement in the press room meanwhile, as a stirring rendition of the South Korean National Anthem is played ahead of the all-important baseball clash with Taiwan.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

18:18 We can now confirm the women's singles bowling result. Chou Chia Chen of Taiwan takes the gold with 1291 points, Jazreel Tan of Singapore takes the silver with 1277 points, and Lee Na-young of South Korea the bronze with 1271 points.

A superb result for Taiwan there, their third gold medal of the Games, after two world record breaking weightlifting ones. They could have another one to come soon, in the tennis, as well.

18:10 Back to tennis, and the men's team final has indeed begun following the delays we mentioned earlier. And it's first blood to Kazakhstan! Aleksandr Nedovyesev eases past Wu Di of China 6-4, 6-0 in barely an hour. It would be remarkable if the men's final finished before the women's one even though it started over six hours later!

Zheng Jie has already rescued China once today now she needs to do so again in the doubles ©Getty Images

Zheng Jie has already rescued China once today now she needs to do so again in the doubles ©Getty Images

18:04 And it's been quite an afternoon for Taiwan, because Chou Chia Chen appears to be heading for victory in the women's singles bowling. She competed earlier on in Group A, scoring 1291 points, as has been sitting their nervously for hours. But no one has overhauled her, and we are now in the closing stages...

17:55 It took Taiwan 33 minutes to wrap up the first set of the tennis doubles in the deciding match of the women's team competition against Chinese. By a score of 6-2 in the first set for Chan Yung Jan and Hsieh Su Wei against Zhang Shuai and Zheng Jie.

17:50 Right. I'm sure we will come back to this, but there's so much else going on here in Incheon, we are going to focus back on the sport that is happening for the time being.

Qatar forfeit basketball match as not allowed to wear hijab

17:40 More on the International Basketball Federation stance on headgear...

"In response to the various requests received, the Central Board held in-depth discussions regarding rules about uniforms and decided to put a testing phase into place for the next two years that will consist of:
- Relaxing the current rules regarding headgear in order to enable national federations to request, as of now, exceptions to be applied at the national level within their territory without incurring any sanctions for violation of FIBA's Official Basketball Rules. National Federations wishing to apply for such an exception to the uniform regulations shall submit a detailed request to FIBA. Once approved, they shall submit follow-up reports twice a year to monitor the use of such exceptions.
- The players will be allowed to play in FIBA endorsed 3x3 competitions - both nationally and internationally - wearing headgear without restrictions, unless the latter presents a direct threat to their safety or that of other players on the court. Players wishing to take part in such competitions with headgear must ensure that a detailed request for approval is addressed to FIBA.
- FIBA will communicate with National Federations over the coming weeks on the subject of these request procedures.

The two years will serve as a test period. FIBA, through its competent bodies, will monitor these requests and their implementation from both the technical and sport development perspectives (for example in terms of manufacturing specificities, safety of athletes, look on the field of play and positive development of participation numbers in basketball within the demanding countries).

A first report will be provided to the Central Board in 2015, which will then determine whether tests at the lowest official international level shall be allowed as of next summer. A full review will be done in 2016 to take a decision on whether permanent change."
- A statement sent out following the FIBA Central Board meeting on September 13, explaining the wearing of headgear. Unless I am mistaken, this only refers to international events in 3x3 basketball. I feel the "direct risk to their safety" line, may be the key in this case...judging by the comment from the player below.

Qatar hoping for female players to be allowed to play wearing a hijab. This message was posted last Thursday (September 18) ©Twitter

Qatar hoping for female players to be allowed to play wearing a hijab. This message was posted last Thursday (September 18) ©Twitter

17:34 This is a very topical issue in sport at the moment. In April, football governing body FIFA lifted a ban after a longstanding campaign led by Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan. That campaign stretched back to 2010 after the Iranian women's football team were banned from wearing the hijab at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Read more here.

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"Before attending the Asian Games, we were told that we would be able to participate in matches by wearing a hijab.However, the organisers of the Asian Games said to us that players with the hijab cannot play today's match. Since we can't take that off to take part in the match because of our religion, we just forfeited the match with Mongolia. You know, handball players from Qatar play matches without any problems in this Asian games. I just don't understand why we're not allowed to play with the hijab. I don't think the hijab is dangerous, and negatively influences the match or other players. We've attended many international competitions in Indonesia and China. Therefore, we will not attend any games in this Asian Games unless the officials change their decision." - Amal Mohamed A Mohamed of Qatar explains the reasoning behind the team refusing to play their Group A match against Mongolia.

All Japanese sprint cycling final

17:25 We will return to that basketball story, but back to the action and the line up for the men's sprint final has been confirmed at the Incheon International Velodrome as track cycling action resumes. The gold medal race will be an all Japan affair with Seiichiro Nakagawa facing Tomyuki Kawabata. China's Bao Seifei will face Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia. The first race in the final will take place at around 18:00 a little later on.

Qatar women's basketball team forfeit match due to hijab ban

17:18 Some interesting news just coming through. It appears Qatar have forfeited their opening women's clash in Group A of the basketball, against Mongolia, due to a ban on team members wearing a hijab, the Islamic veil covering the body from the head to the chest, at the Hwaseong Sports Complex. We will bring you more information on this as soon we have it.

There is nothing mentioned about this on the Twitter feeds of either the Qatar Olympic Committee or the Qatar Basketball Federation, even though they have been updating throughout the day, but the Incheon 2014 information system lists the match as a 20-0 automatic victory to Mongolia.

Thrilling home gold ends wushu programme on day five

17:10 Those "sanda" sparring events, were very different to the "taolu" exhibition ones seen earlier in the Games. Have a look at this article by my colleague Paul Osborne for an update on wushu's Olympic ambitions (Wushu has a bright future in the Olympic Movement, claims world governing body). The International Wushu Federation will be ultimately hoping to add both elements to the programme.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

17:05 But the best is saved to last as South Korea's Kim Myeong-jin comes from behind to edge Hamid Reza Ladvar of Iran 2-1 to win the final, under 75kg title. A brilliant win in front of a home crowd as Iran come perilously close to a second gold.

No medallists of any colour for China in this event, as Kazakhstan's Nursultan Tursynkulov and Vietname's Ngo van Sy take the two bronze medals. Five out of seven for China in wushu.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

16:58 Normal service has been resumed back at the wushu, as Zhang Kun of China clinches a 2-0 victory over Yoo Sang-hoon of South Korea to take home the gold medal in the under 70kg division.

Sajjad Abbasiamar of Iran takes one bronze while the other is the one we mentioned earlier (see 13:48) for Syed Maratib Ali Shah of Pakistan.

Kong Hongxin en route to wushu gold for China ©AFP/Getty Images

Kong Hongxin en route to wushu gold for China ©AFP/Getty Images

Bangladesh join Sri Lanka, Pakistan...and China in the cricket semis

16:50 It's about time to bring you the customary afternoon cricket result. And as expected, Bangladesh are the final team to make the last four of the women's competition. They've beaten Nepal by 81 runs and are through to face Sri Lanka in the final. That will be a fascinating clash to watch. But even in this sport, China are competitive. They are the only non established nation through, and will face Pakistan. India, incidentally, did not send a team.

Chinese fight back in tennis as, with one exception, wushi wonder-streak continues

16:41 China are dominating in wushu, and they're fighting back in tennis. Zheng Jie proves her class by cruising through the final set, 6-2 in 29 minutes over a visibly tiring Taiwanese opponent, Hsieu Su Wei. Both players will be back on court in a few moments time for the deciding doubles clash in this women's team final.

The men's team final between China and Kazakhstan, which was scheduled to begin a little earlier this afternoon, has been delayed due to time constraints. We will bring you more information soon.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

16:35 But the trend has been broken. Iranian Moshen Mohammadesifi defeats Rishat Livensho 2-0 in the under 65kg division to win his second Asian Games title, following victory at Guangzhou 2010. China (only) take bronze, courtesy of Chen Hongxing, while Salaheddin Bayramov of Turkmenistan claims the other.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

16:27 A couple more wushu results to bring you now. We are racing through these finals, but we are only getting more and more Chinese success, a fourth gold in 30 minutes, as Kong Hongxing of China beats Jean Claude Saclag of the Philippines in the under 60kg final, 2-0. Narender Grewal and Kang Yeong-sik, of India and South Korea respectively, take the two bronze medals.

Saudi National Day celebrations attended by Sheikh Ahmad

16:20 After receiving criticism in the build-up for failing to include any women in their team, Saudi Arabia's 199 strong male delegation are yet to win a medal yet in the opening five days of action, but have had some good results, particularly in handball, where they are through to the second round stage, so guaranteed a top eight finish. They have also enjoyed top 10 finishing positions in shooting, weightlifting and cycling.

The OCA President attends the National Day celebrations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ©OCA

The OCA President attends the National Day celebrations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ©OCA

16:15 One other event which happened in Incheon last night to update you on, it was National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 84 years after independence. As well as across the country, celebrations were held here in Incheon as Prince Nawaf M. A. Al Saud, head of the Saudi Arabian Athletics Federation, welcomed the VIP guests and the members of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee delegation at the 17th Asian Games and thanked them for sharing in the National Day celebrations.

OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, from neighbouring Kuwait, was also present, saying that it was an honour to attend such a special occasion and to see the development of the Kingdom, "especially in the field we love - sport".

"We congratulate His Majesty and the people of Saudi Arabia," he added. The dinner banquet celebration was attended by directors and staff of the OCA as well as various National Olympic Committee officials and other members of the Olympic movement.

16:08 A couple of photos of gold medal winners from earlier in the day to give you a quick wushu-break on day five. A good atmosphere is being generated now over at the tennis, where we are on serve in the third set...

Kim Junhong celebrates gold for South Korea in the 25m rapid fire pistol shooting ©AFP/Getty Images

Kim Junhong celebrates gold for South Korea in the 25m rapid fire pistol shooting ©AFP/Getty Images

Japan en route to lightweight double sculls rowing gold ©AFP/Getty Images

A woosh of wushu medals...

Incheon 2014 gold medal

16:05 And it's three out of three for China, as Zhao Fuxing grabs a convincing 2-0 victory over Vietnam's Truong Giang Bui in the men's under 56kg class. Khamla Soukaphone of Laos managed to avoid getting stuck in the traffic en route to his semi-final to guarantee himself one bronze, while Francisco Solis of the Philippines took the other. Both Filipino medals have come in wushu.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

16:01 Wang Cong of China scored a 2-0 victory over Kao Yu Chuan of Taiwan to win the gold medal in the under 60kg class. A precursor for the tennis, maybe, that result? A second medal of the Games for Turkmenistan as Jennet Aynazarova takes one bronze, while Tan Thi Ly of Vietnam secures the other.

Incheon 2014 gold medal

15:56 Right, we've got to bring you up to speed on the first few wushu finals here. A what of wushu, I wonder? I can't quite find an appropriate adjective, but Zhang Luan of Chin, where else, won the first gold medal in women's sanda as she defeated Iranian Elaheh Mansoryansamiroumi 2-0 at Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium.

Bronze medals, secured yesterday by virtue of semi-final losses, went Sanathoi Devi Yumnam of India and Kim Hye-bin of South Korea.

15:53 A brilliant fightback by Zheng Jie in the tennis. She has broken back in the second set against Hsieu Su Wei, and then broken again before serving it out to win 7-5 and level things up in this second rubber in the women's team final.

A workshop to develop Asian sport

15:45 Moving away from the sport here just for the moment, a workshop set up by the World Olympians Association in conjunction with National Associations from Asia, took place here yesterday to outline plans to establish various "Olympism in Action" projects.

Hosted by the Korean Olympians Association during the Asian Games, the workshop discussed how the bodies can support their Olympian members, sharing practices and working together to expand WOA membership and increase NOA activities throughout the region.

A platform for debate on how NOAs can activate Olympians and encourage them to run Olympism in Action projects in the communities they live in will also be created, it is hoped. Read more in our article here.

Bowling at the Asian Games...

15:37 The bowling competition is split into two sections at the Anyang Hogye Gymnasium, with half the field competing in each. The second group have just begun, but after the first group earlier, Chou Chia Chen of Taiwan leads with 1291 points, ahead of New Hui Fen of Singapore.

Athletes competing in the mens bowling competition ©AFP/Getty Images

Athletes competing in the mens bowling competition ©AFP/Getty Images

Bowling events have been contested at every Asian Games since Bangkok 1978, with the exception of New Delhi 1982 and Beijing 1990. Bowling is played in single games, with game results determined by the scores earned with the number of pins knocked down. Each game consists of 10 frames, with players rolling the ball twice in every frame, except for when they knock every pin down with the first shot (i.e. a strike) A perfect score is 300 points in a game.

In Guangzhou 2010, Hwang Sun-ok won this event for South Korea. She is not here but the runner-up four years ago, Shayna Ng of Singapore is.

15:30 We've used this flag quite a lot today. A break of serve in the second set of the tennis. Hsieu Su Wei is serving with a set and a 4-3 lead over Zheng Jie in the singles. Zheng has to break back, and quickly. We are potentially two games away from a Taiwanese team gold.

Beer day and professional cheerleaders...

15:25 Incheon 2014 certainly know how to get the media on side. We have just received a notice for "Welcome to beer day", with a complimentary variety of snacks and beverages. This may be a defense mechanism to offload the criticism of the late-night buses back to the Media Village that has been simmering over the last couple of days...

Meanwhile they have also been speaking about ticket sales.

Quote marks

We have recruited 53,000 supporters to cheer foreign countries participating in less popular sports. And we are inviting military service members and multicultural families to fill the empty seats. Regarding tickets sales, we have thus far sold 27 billion won worth of tickets. This figure surpasses the ticket sales during the Busan Asian Games. If the tickets for popular sports are all sold out, we think we can achieve our goal of selling 35 billion won worth of tickets for this year's Asian Games. - Incheon 2014 explain their plans to "get bums on seats".

Another shooting title for South Korea

Incheon 2014 gold medal

15:13 South Korea's Kim Jun-hong has grabbed the gold medal with 31 points in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol. China's Zhang Jian and Hu Haozhe took silver and bronze medals, respectively. Zhang scored 30 points and Hu 25 points.

A perfect illustration right there of why countries like India are finding shooting success so hard to come by...

Indian problems symbolised by shock squash loss?

I'm literally speechless!! over the moon with my win today over Surav and winning my first ever gold - Abdullah Almezayen is delighted after his shock squash gold medal for Kuwait, the first title of the Games for someone from an Arab nation.

15:05 Returning to India, and pistol shooter Jitu Rai won the country's only gold of the Games way back on day one. They took their first silver yesterday, courtesy of Saurav Ghosal in the men's squash, but only after he was beaten from 2-0 up by unheralded Kuwaiti Abdullah Almezayen in the final.

To be fair, most of the biggest Indian medal hopes, in sports like kabaddi, wrestling, boxing, archery, hockey, badminton and athletics are yet to compete. Their shooters however have, Rai aside, been disappointing, swept aside by the brilliance of China and South Korea.

Taiwan heading for tennis gold?

14:58 Remember that tennis in China is still rocking from the news a few days ago that Li Na, who remains the world number six for the time being and won the Australian Open title at the beginning of the year, is retiring from the sport due to chronic knee injury. Read our article here.

China could do with her at her rampaging best now. Plenty of big ground-strokes but Hsieu is right on her game here. A superb opening set performance.

14:53 A big moment in the tennis, as Hsieu Su Wei breaks Zheng Jie to lead 5-3 in the first set. Zheng gets to deuce on several occasions but cannot break back and Hsieu serves it out for a 6-3 victory. A win in this match would hand Taiwan the gold.

Asian Games, or cleavage, a white tiger and a mission to Mars?

14:45 While China, and to a slightly lesser extent South Korea and Japan, are winning medal after medal here in Incheon, there are quite a few other countries who haven't won too many so far and may be slightly disappointed. To name a few: Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran and India, who, despite 10 bronze medals, only have one gold and one silver.

So it took a Cleavage, A White Tiger and a Mars Mission to hide the fact that we are messing up at the Asian Games - Aditya Bandwar tweets about the priorities of the Indian media.

The three "bigger" stories he refers to in the backlash to a controversial photo and tweet published by The Times of India about Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone's cleavage, a white tiger that mauled to death a man who fell into the animal's enclosure at a New Delhi zoo, and the fact an unmanned Indian spacecraft has entered the orbit of Mars. They become the first Asian nation to do so, and the first nation in the world to successfully reach Mars on its first attempt. Some big stories there, to be fair, a blend of scandal, tragedy and innovation...

14:36 It's been a slightly quite period in terms of medals for the last couple of hours, but action is getting going in bowling, where it is the women's singles competition today, and in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol shooting final, where we have another South Korea v China duel to be entertained by.

Tissot watches being awarded to latest record breaking weightlifter

14:29 In weightlifting today, we have the women's under 69kg division at 16:00 before the men's under 85kg event at 19:00.

Tzu Chi Lin celebrates her clean and jerk world record yesterday in the under 63kg event ©AFP/Getty Images

Tzu Chi Lin celebrates her clean and jerk world record yesterday in the under 63kg event ©AFP/Getty Images

14:24 There will be another world record honouring ceremony later, it has been announced. Tissot, the Official Timekeeper of the 17th Asian Games, will present the Tissot World Record Award to Taiwan's Tzu Chi Lin, after she broke two world records yesterday in the under 63kg category. She will also be awarded a limited edition Asian Games watch.

Will any world records be broken in a sport other than weightlifting, I wonder?

Taiwan take the first match in team tennis final

14:15 Next up we have the battle of the number one players. For China, it is Zheng Jie, a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion back in 2006 who reached a career high singles ranking of 15 in 2009, and is currently ranked 80. She is up against another two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, Hsieu Su Wei, who is currently ranked 144th, but was world number 23 in 2013.

14:05 Over in the tennis, however, and Taiwan are one match to the good in the women's team final. In a 2 hour and 13 min epic, the second set, like the first, goes to a tiebreak but is once again won by the Taiwanese player, Chan Yung Jan, who takes the match 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-4) over Duan Yingying

13:56 A quick whiz through the channels to see what is happening around the grounds here in Incheon. There is baseball, sepak takraw, badminton, volleyball and hockey action going on at the moment.

A bit like "after the Lord Mayors show" at the badminton this morning. The atmosphere was magnificent last night, but it is muted with a lot of empty seats this morning.

A mystery bronze medal for Pakistan

13:48 Speaking of Pakistan, the eagle eyed among you will have noticed, our medals table now shows a bronze medal for the nation, which we didn't mention yesterday. Well, that was secured by Syed Maratib Ali Shah in the men's under 70kg sanda wushu competition by virtue of him losing his semi-final, therefore guaranteeing himself bronze.

At the Olympics, when boxers lose semi-finals, they are not awarded their bronze medal until after the final in their category has finished. A different system is being adopted here. There are seven "sanda", i.e. sparring, finals in wushu today, getting underway at 15:00.

13:41 Some more reaction to the Pakistani cricket victory earlier. And another verdict on the pitch...

"I think we knew Thailand has a good feeling in their team at the moment and they started well when they picked up two of our batters in two overs with good fielding. We made a nervous start but then our senior batters held the innings together really well. Because it's a really low wicket and it's our first game of the tournament we are still getting used to the field. It's really difficult to score runs here so our batters really pushed for singles but maybe misjudged them, it's something we need to improve on for our next games. The bowlers have done their job pretty well, in the last couple of years they've really improved for us so they need to keep improving in this tournament. I think we might not see very high scores in this tournament because of the pitch so bowling will be very important. I think we have to bat more intelligently on this wicket, and in fielding be very disciplined."
- Pakistan cricket captain Sana Mir reflects on the pitch and the opposition after the quarter-final win over Thailand

A reigning Olympic and world champion...but on the verge of being dropped?

13:34 China's greatest threat will come from Japan, South Korea and, especially on the women's side, Singapore.

Zhang Jike carrying the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony of Nanjing 2014 last month ©Getty Images

Zhang Jike carrying the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony of Nanjing 2014 last month ©Getty Images

13:28 Speaking of table tennis, and some fascinating words from China's longstanding head coach Liu Guoliang about the country's star player, or one of their star players, Zhang Jike.

"I gave him some reminders and even warnings about his position," Liu said. "In the nearly two-year period to Rio, the competition will be fierce. He really can't make have a mistake.

"Some of his performances on court have been listless. He has appeared like he doesn't care and has actually given me the feeling his heart's not in it. I felt that was obvious at the World Championships in Japan."

"In the Asian Games team component, he can't make any mistake," he said. "With every loss there's danger. By the time he feels that danger, it might be too late for him."

Though the 26-year-old has been virtually untouchable in singles since his 2011 world title in Rotterdam, winning the 2013 event in Guangzhou as well as the London 2012 Olympic title, he has been less dominant when player in the team competition. At the recent World Team Championships in Tokyo that Liu alludes to, Zhang was swept 3-0 by Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the final, while he also had a surprise loss to Taiwan's Chen Chien-an at last year's World Team Classic in Guangzhou. China still won both events, of course.

But I suppose, when the team boast the world's top five ranked players, with Zhang Jike at three behind Ma Long and Xu Xin, but ahead of Wang Hao and Youth Olympic champion, Fan Zhendong, every loss will potentially cost you your place in the team. Liu obviously doesn't believe in making his players feel comfortable heading into a major event, although I feel his words are a calculated gamble to fire-up a player who thrives off pressure.

13:19 It's great to see athletes able to raise their game against the Chinese. We say it last night in the badminton and it is happening now in the tennis. All we need now is for someone to get the better of China in table tennis, when that sport begins on Saturday (September 27).

Chan Yung Jan celebrates after going one set to the good against Duan Yingying of China ©Getty Images