South Korea downs North Korea for football gold

South Korea’s team. AP Photo/Kin Cheung

INCHEON, South Korea— South Korea got a late goal from Rim Chang-woo to beat North Korea, 1-0, in extra time on Thursday in the men’s football final at the Asian Games.

Rim collected a loose ball after a goalmouth scramble and beat North Korea goalkeeper Ri Myong-guk at the 47,000-seat Munhak Stadium.

North Korea coach Yun Jong Su blamed the officials for the loss.

“The referees were not working in fair play mode,” Yun said.

Security for the match had been substantially increased in deference to ongoing tensions between the sides stemming from the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Despite that, South Korean fans applauded the North’s efforts and a contingent of North Korean athletes in matching track suits stood and waved their national flags throughout the game.

Iraq beat Thailand, 1-0, for the bronze medal.

At the end of Day 12 of the 16-day games, China continued to dominate the medals table with 142 golds. South Korea is next with 72 gold while Japan has 46.

Elsewhere, Japan scattered nine hits in their 6-0 win over Taiwan in the softball final. Upon receiving their medals, the Japanese women unveiled a banner urging the International Olympic Committee to reinstate baseball and softball as Olympic sports in time for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

In athletics, Kenyan-born Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa won the women’s marathon for Bahrain, holding off Ryoko Kizaki of Japan.

Kirwa led from start to finish as the course wound through the South Korean port city in chilly weather, crossing the line in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 37 seconds. Kizaki took silver and another Bahraini, Lishan Dula Gemgchu, was third.

The win was the sixth gold medal for Bahrain in the continental competition. Like other Arab states, Bahrain has embraced talented African runners, offering incentives and the promise of improved training conditions and more opportunities for international competition.

Chinese athletes set Asian records in the men’s javelin and 4×100 relay, with Zhao Qinggang throwing 89.15 meters and China’s quartet finishing in 37.99 seconds.

Olympic 1,500 bronze medalist Maryam Yusuf Jamal won the 5,000 meters, while Svetlana Radzivil of Uzbekistan took gold in the women’s high jump, Zheng Xingjuan of China took first place in the men’s triple jump, and Chang Ming-huang won Taiwan’s first athletics gold in the men’s shot put.

China won both the men’s and women’s 4×100 relays, while Japan won the men’s 4×400 and India the women’s, followed by Japan and China.

“We tried so hard. We could not win gold four years ago, so we participated in this competition in the thought that we will take revenge,” Japanese runner Nobuya Kato said.

In a clash of the men’s hockey powers, India defeated eight-time Asian Games champion Pakistan, 4-2, in a shootout after their game ended in 1-1 draw.

“We worked pretty hard in certain areas,” India coach Terence Arthur said. “India’s gold happened because the players understood the hockey performance really well.”

South Korea defeated China, 70-64, in women’s basketball final, while Cao Yuan won the 3-meter springboard and Si Yajie the 10-meter platform to extend China’s grip on the diving golds.

Iran and Japan both won two karate golds, with Malaysia picking up one. South Korea won two golds in taekwondo, with China and Iran winning the remaining two.

In the rugby competition, China beat Japan for the women’s gold, while Japan downed Hong Kong in the men’s final.