Favorites China took early charge of the Asian Games shooting competition by winning the first three gold medals on offer at the Lusail ranges yesterday.
The Chinese men won the 10m Air Rifle team event and the women added the Trap team and individual gold medals to give their rivals a taste of their expected domination over the next six days.
China is also expected to sweep the remaining three events on the opening day at the wind-swept ranges in the Qatari capital.
World No. 1 Li Chen easily won the women's Trap individual event with a tally of 89 points, nine more than the joint 80 scored by team-mate Zhu Mei and Lin Yi-chun of Taiwan.
Zhu took the silver on the tie-breaker to make it a 1-2 for the Chinese.
Disappointing
South Korea's Lee Bo-na, a gold medal contender here after winning two medals at the Athens Olympics, finished a disappointing 11th with 60 points.
"The wind created a problem but I had prepared for that well over the last two days," said Li. "It is nice to end the day with both the team and individual golds."
In the team event, Li and her compatriots scored 195 points while North Korea won the silver with 186 points and South Korea the bronze with 174 points.
China had earlier won the first gold medal of these Asian Games when they claimed the men's 10m Air Rifle team event.
Indian Bronze
South Korea won the silver and India bagged the bronze after the end of individual qualification rounds which decided the winner of the team event.
The Chinese trio of Liu Tianyou, Li Jie and Zhu Qinan finished with 1,786 points, 11 more than the second-placed Korean team of Yu Jae-chung, Chae Kean-bae and Kim Hye-sung.
India, missing World Cup champion Abhinav Bindra through a back injury, finished just one point behind the Koreans on 1,776 points.
Gagan Narang shot 595 points in his six rounds and Padinchare Raghunath came in with 592, but rookie Navanath Faratade managed only 589 to deny the Indians a silver.
"Abhinav's absence made a big difference but I am not blaming Navanath," Indian coach Sunny Thomas said. "It is his first major event and he was a bit nervous. He is human. Anyone can have a bad day."
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Sumo is walking a “tightrope” as it prepares to stage events outside Japan for the first time in 20 years while also trying to preserve its ancient traditions, experts say. The sport is to hold exhibition tournaments in London in October and in Paris in June next year, the first time the Japan Sumo Association has been abroad since Las Vegas in 2005. Sports such as soccer, baseball and football play domestic games overseas in a bid to gain new fans in emerging markets. John Gunning, a former amateur sumo wrestler who commentates on the sport in English on Japanese television, says its
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday poured in 35 points as the Thunder grabbed a bounce-back 118-108 victory in Portland to push their NBA-best record to 37-8. The Thunder, surprised by the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, fended off a late surge from the Trail Blazers to snap their four-game winning streak. Jalen Williams scored 24 points and Isaiah Joe added 16 off the bench. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, back after a five-game absence with a calf injury, added 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a big block. The Western Conference leaders were under pressure late as Portland, trailing by 15 heading
The Golden State Warriors on Wednesday withstood Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 52-point outburst to beat the Western Conference leading Thunder 116-109. Andrew Wiggins scored 27 points and Warriors superstar Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as Golden State erased a double-digit deficit and pulled away late for the victory. “We just stayed solid,” said Curry, who entered the contest mired in a shooting slump and had just four points on one basket in the first half. “Just all-around effort.” The Thunder, fueled by 31 first-half points from Gilgeous-Alexander, led by as many as 14 in the