The UAE’s Asian Games medal tally doubled in size with two bronze medals on Thursday.
In karate, Marwan Al Mazmi took bronze in the individual kata, though he was disappointed not to have beaten Indonesia’s Fidelys Lolobua and earn a chance to fight for gold.
“I think we were robbed of the chance to contest for the gold medal. I have complained to the chief official, but there is no provision for lodging formal protests in kata competition,” said coach Mohammed Ibrahim Naderbeigi, who was unhappy with the judging.
“There is always this unfair loophole in refereeing, and there is nothing we can do but accept the decision and go on in life to our next challenge.”
After the 3-2 loss to Lolobua, Al Mazmi beat Qatar’s Adham Abdul Nasser Hashem in the men’s kata repechage contest before scoring a narrow 3-2 win over Hong Kong’s Chris Tsz Man Cheng in the bronze medal match.
“This is such a huge achievement for me. I feel blessed that I could do this for my country. It is the perfect gift for the people of the UAE,” Al Mazmi said.
Later, in the men’s masters bowling, Shaker Ali Hassan took a second bronze medal to end the day.
Bowling in a competition that consisted of the 16 best bowlers at the end of six days, Hassan was joined by Hussain Al Suwaidi in the top six.
Hassan kept his composure to finish in third place overall and earn the right to contest for a medal. He was first up against Hong Kong’s Wu Siu Hong, who went on to win and advance for a showdown with home favourite Park Jong-woo.
“I tried my best to get a medal. As a team we have believed in ourselves and backed each other,” Hassan said.
“But honestly, these lanes are tough to play on and we are glad to take home at least one medal at the end of the week.”
The two medals add to Alia Saeed’s gold in the 10,000m and Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook Al Maktoum’s bronze in the double trap.
Much was expected of the two UAE distance runners – Saeed and Bethlem Desaleyn – in the 5,000m but they could not keep up with a fierce pace set by the Bahraini runners.
Olympic 1,500 bronze medallist Maryam Yusuf Jamal won the gold from compatriot Mimi Belete, with Saeed finishing sixth in a personal best time and Desaleyn 10th.
On Friday, the UAE’s final competitor, Hussain Al Maazmi, contests the men’s 58kg taekwondo.
Elsewhere, China’s men’s 4x100m relay team broke the Asian record.
Chen Shiwei, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian and Zhang Peimeng crossed the line in 37.99 seconds, becoming the first Asians to go below 38 seconds.
“It was also the third best time in the world this year.
There was another Asian record for China in the men’s javelin as Zhao Qinggang threw the second-longest distance of 2014, a monster 89.15 metres – nearly five metres clear of nearest rival Ryohei Arai of Japan.
With a few exceptions the track and field performances in Incheon have been some way below world class. But there have been Asian Games records in 17 out of 46 events, with the men’s marathon still to come on Friday.
Chinese sprint star Zhang, who ran 10.00 seconds in last year’s world championships in Moscow but was a disappointing fourth in the 100m final on Sunday, said the team had not set out to target the Asian mark.
“I never imagined we would break the record, we just focused on training to win the race. Relay is a team event and I’m really pleased with our efforts this time,” he said.
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