India wins gold in Asian Games cricket after rain stops play in final with Afghanistan
HANGZHOU, China (AP) — India picked up the gold medal in men's cricket on Saturday at the Asian Games after the final against Afghanistan was halted by rain.
India was the higher seeded team going into the final, and officials awarded the medal using that logic with the games closing on Sunday.
It was Afghanistan’s first silver medal at these Games after winning four bronze. It has not won a gold.
After India won the toss and bowled first, Afghanistan was 112-5 off 18.2 overs when rain forced the players from the field in Hangzhou. Persistent rain prevented any further play and the umpires called the match off.
India made a clean sweep of the cricket competitions at these Games after its women’s team also won gold, beating Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the final.
SOUTH KOREA — NO MILITARY
South Korea defeated Japan 2-1 in the men's gold-medal soccer game, a victory that gives the winning players an exemption from military service.
All male gold-medal winners at the Games are, by South Korean law, granted exemptions from the 18 to 21 months of military that all able-bodied men must start by the time they turn 28. Olympic medals also do the trick.
Cho Young-wook scored the winner in the 56th minute, making him a hero for the entire team.
Kotaro Uchino scored in the 2nd for Japan, and Jeong Woo-yeong equalized in the 27th.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, Son Heung-min led South Korea to gold, which earned him the right to stay at English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur.
CLOSING CEREMONY
The Asian Games close their two-week run on Sunday with three gold medals to be awarded on the final day — two in karate and one in artistic swimming.
China won a record 416 medals at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou and will not surpass that total. It had 375 medals overall through much of the play on Saturday.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend Sunday's closing ceremony in Hangzhou. It cited the foreign ministry spokesperson. President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony on Sept. 23.
The 2026 Games will be held in Nagoya, Japan.
VOLLEYBALL
China defeated Japan in the women's gold-medal game, winning 3-0. China took the first game 25-15 and then took the last two by the same score of 25-21. Thailand defeated Vietnam 3-0 for the bronze.
Earlier, Iran took the men's gold by beating China 3-1. Japan won the bronze, topping Qatar 3-1.
DISTANCE SWIMMING
After Saturday's 10-kilometer distance swim, China's Zhang Ziyang edged fellow Chinese Lan Tianchen by a mere four-tenths of a second to take gold. The winning time was 1 hour, 55 minutes, 45.8 seconds. Lan finished in 1:55.46.2. Bronze went to Park Jae-hun of South Korea.
Zhang swam in pool events, too, but failed to win a medal there.
“I performed average in the swimming pool so I can say that this medal today is one of the biggest surprises of the Asian Games for me," he said.
China's Wu Shutong won gold on Friday in the women's portion of the 10-kilometer swim.
ARCHERY
India picked up two golds on Saturday with four up for grabs. China and South Korea won the other two.
India's Jyothi Surekha took gold in women's compound with silver for South Korea's So Char-won. India also won the men's compound with gold for Abhishek Verma and silver for compatriot Ojas Pravin Deotale.
BASEBALL
South Korea defeated Taiwan 2-0 to take the baseball gold. South Korea scored the only two runs of the game in the second inning to seal the win. Japan took bronze, beating China 4-3
ARTISTIC SWIMMING
China took gold in the women's duet behind Wang Liuyi and Wang Wang Qianyi. Tomoka Sato, Mashiro Yasunaga and Moe Higa teamed up for silver for Japan, and Yasmin Tuyakova and Anna Pushkina earned the bronze for Kazakhstan.
The team free routine medal will be decided on Sunday.
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