Bangladesh cricket team players dance in jubilation while celebrating victory over Afghanistan. -AFP Photo

GUANGZHOU: Teenager Shabbir Rahaman Roman smashed two sixes in the penultimate over to help Bangladesh to a first Asian Games gold and dash Afghanistan’s hopes of a fairytale finish in Friday’s men’s cricket final.

Chasing Afghanistan’s 118, the 17-year-old’s swashbuckling 33 not out swung the Twenty20 match in Bangladesh’s favour and they won with three balls to spare, sparking wild celebrations as players rushed with billowing flags on to the ground and embraced.

“We played like tigers today,” the green-eyed and wiry Rahaman Roman told Reuters. “This is the happiest day of my life,” added the teenager.

The Afghan cricketers, mostly ethnic Pashtun from the country’s southeast, were stonefaced after the loss.

“The Afghanistan people are maybe very sad,” said Asghar Stanikzai, his team’s top-scorer on the day with an unbeaten 38.

“The silver medal is not (a) big medal but it was a good fight.”

With the country’s expectations weighing heavily on Afghan shoulders to bring home a first Asian Games gold, their opening batsmen appeared nervous at the crease.

Kazi Shahadat Hossain’s standout fast bowling unsettled the opening order and the first wicket went for just one run.

A great diving catch near the boundary by Nazmul Hossain dismissed vice captain Karim Khan Sadeq.

A gutsy innings by Stanikzai, however, spurred Afghanistan to a respectable 118 after a middle-order collapse threatened to leave the team with a paltry score.

The Bangladeshis, dressed in green, lost their first wicket in the third over when opener Nazim Uddin scooped a high shot into the hands of Samiullah Shinwarai.

SHOWED METTLE

The Afghans, who bowled and fielded aggressively, showed their mettle when Mohammed Mithun was run out in the eighth over with a superb throw from the outfield.

With the game poised on a knife edge, however, Rahaman Rohan stepped forward, surviving a close lbw call, before swatting two straight sixes into the pavilion, sparking wild cheers by green-clad Bangladeshi supporters and Chinese fans.

For the small contingent of Afghan supporters, some wearing skull caps, there was disappointment but also grace in defeat.

“The world knows us for fighting, bombs and bullets but we want to make sure to the world that we are not these things only,” said Abdul Khan, waving a large green, red and black flag in the stands on a cool and sunny afternoon.

“We just need a chance. And definitely I can assure you that our next Olympics or Asian Games, we will go for gold again.”

Cricket has become an increasingly popular sport in Afghanistan with a number of academies sprouting up across the wartorn and insurgency wracked land after the game was introduced by Pashtuns who learnt to play in Pakistan refugee camps during the Russian invasion in the 1980s.

In the bronze medal match, Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to restore some pride after they were beaten in the semi-finals by Afghanistan on Thursday.

Pakistan won gold in the women’s competition with Bangladesh taking silver. -Reuters

The hosts had already breezed to their goal of exceeding their 165-gold haul at the 2006 Doha Games. -AFP Photo

GUANGZHOU: China smashed their 20-year gold medal record at the Asian Games early on Friday when women’s karate fighter Feng Lanlan captured the delegation’s 184th title.

The 26-year-old Asian champion Feng felled Japan’s Emiko Homma 3-0 with a single scoring blow to clinch gold in the 68kg kumite class.

Kayaker Zhou Yu’s triumph in the women’s singles 500m discipline had earlier brought China’s total to 183, equalling their haul at the 1990 Beijing Games.

China underlined their dominance in the event by picking up two more golds, including the men’s canoe single 200m and the women’s kayak double.

The hosts had already breezed to their goal of exceeding their 165-gold haul at the 2006 Doha Games with days to spare.

Although losing some of their most decorated athletes to injury and retirement, China brought 34 Olympic champions to the southern city of Guangzhou to usher in a new generation ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

China will hope to further boost their record on Friday when Olympic boxing champion Zou Shiming defends his 49kg title against Birzhan Zhakypov, while the hosts will fancy their chances against South Korea in the men’s basketball final.

One competition where the long arm of China’s Soviet-style sports system has yet to produce success will wrap up on Friday, when Afghanistan take on Bangladesh in the final of the men’s Twenty20 cricket competition.

Afghanistan’s band of refugee camp-raised players upset a second-string side from world cricket power Pakistan in the semi-final on Thursday and will hope a fairytale ending can bring joy to their war-torn country. – Reuters

Pakistani batsmen Khalid Latif (2nd R) and Bilawal Bhatti (2nd L) celebrate their victory against Sri Lanka in the bronze medal cricket match at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. -AFP Photo

GUANGZHOU: Skipper Khalid Latif smashed an unbeaten 53 off 42 balls as Pakistan won the cricket bronze medal at the Asian Games with a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Friday.

Latif, whose five one-day internationals made him the only capped player in his young team, hit four sixes and two fours to lift Pakistan past Sri Lanka’s 135 all out with two overs to spare.

Three of those sixes came in one over from leg-spinner Malinga Bandara, boosting the total after Pakistan had lost four wickets for 85 runs.

Bilawal Bhatti returned unbeaten on a quickfire 24 off 14 balls that included the winning hit for a six off Nuwan Zoysa.

Pakistan made amends for the 22-run defeat in Thursday’s semi-final against Afghanistan, who take on Bangladesh in the final later on Friday.

Sri Lanka’s total revolved around an opening stand of 53 in eight overs between Zoysa and Jeevantha Kulatunga.

Kulatunga top-scored with 31, while Zoysa, who played 30 Tests and 95 one-dayers primarily as a left-arm seamer, hit two fours and a six in a run-a-ball 24.

Dilshan Munaweera’s 28 carried Sri Lanka to 100-3 by the 15th over, before the last seven wickets crashed for 35 runs, four batsmen being run out.

Left-arm spinner Raza Hassan was Pakistan’s best bowler with 2-19 from his four overs. – AFP

Japanese players celebrate after winning gold medal in Asian Games football final against the UAE. —AFP Photo

In a tight opening half, the UAE shook off the defensive cloak which had frustrated South Korea in the semi-final before delivering a winning sucker punch in extra-time.

They had four shots on target in the first half on Thursday with Omar Al Omoudi having his team’s best chance of the opening period, but he headed wide after earlier seeing a spectacular overhead kick saved by Japan goalkeeper Shunsuke Ando.

Japan had reached the final with an impressive run of six successive wins and boasted the blossoming striking talent of Kensuke Nagai, the 25-year-old having hit five goals in five games.

But it was the UAE who continued to press after the interval with Ahmed Al Abry, who scored the last-minute extra-time winner to beat South Korea, seeing Ando save a close-range header.

Abdulla Bloushi then forced Ando into a smart save at the foot of his post.

The UAE paid for the price for their wastefulness when Japan broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute.

From a flowing move down the left hand side, a cross was swung in which floated over the heads of the UAE defenders and into the path of right-back Saneto.

He took just one touch and fired a right-foot drive into the corner, past the despairing dive of goalkeeper and UAE captain Ali Housani.

Substitute Saeed Al Kathiri then saw a diving header saved by Ando as Japan held on for gold.

Earlier, South Korea stunned Iran with three goals in the last 12 minutes to win the bronze medal match 4-3.

The Koreans looked down and out when Iran went 3-1 in front early in the second half but Monaco’s Park Chu-Young gave them a glimmer of hope when he buried the ball in the net to make it 3-2 on 78 minutes.

In a dramatic finale, Ji Dong-Won made it 3-3 with two minutes of regulation time left before firing in the winner barely a minute later to jubilant scenes on the Korean bench. —AFP

Sohail Abbas scored from a penalty corner in the 26th minute to give Pakistan the lead over Malaysia. —AFP Photo

GUANGZHOU: Pakistan bagged its third gold medal of the 2010 Asian Games when it defeated Malaysia 2-0 in the final in Guangzhou, China on Thursday.

Fired-up Pakistan annexed the Asian Games men’s hockey gold medal after 20 years with the final win.

Specialist drag-flicker Sohail Abbas gave Pakistan the lead in the 28th minute when he converted from a penalty corner. Abbas slammed home the ball in the top right corner in Pakistan’s second attack of the first half.

Striker Rehan Butt then consolidated the lead three minutes into the second half when he hit a close-range goal from open play (in the 38th minute).

It was Pakistan’s eighth Asiad hockey gold, ending a drought that stretched back to Beijing in 1990, and handed them their first major title since winning the World Cup in Sydney in 1994.

Pakistan ended the year on a high after a disappointing eight-month period in which they finished a humiliating 12th out of 12 at the World Cup in March and took sixth place at the Commonwealth Games in October.

The Pakistanis kneeled in prayer after the final whistle, before lifting their Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel over their shoulders to loud applause from the stands.

Malaysia, often dubbed the sport’s perennial under-achievers, had to settle for silver in their maiden appearance in the title clash after winning the bronze medal six times.

The entire Malaysian team, barring Sikh player Baljit Singh, shaved their heads in a practice called ‘nazar’ to ward off evil spirits in the final, but failed to produce the spark that won them the semi-final against India.

Amin Rahim, whose two late goals sank India, faltered in all three penalty corners his team earned in the second half.

Malaysia had gone into the final as the only unbeaten team in the competition with four wins and a draw.

By winning the final, Pakistan has also confirmed it’s berth at the 2012 London Olympics.

India's Tushar Khandekar, left, looks to score a goal as South Korean players look on during their men's field hockey bronze medal match at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. -Photo by AP

GUANGZHOU: Former champions India returned to the Asian Games men’s hockey podium after missing out four years ago when they defeated favourites South Korea 1-0 in the bronze medal play-off on Thursday.

Tushar Khandekar netted the winner four minutes into the second session as India dominated the lacklustre Koreans through the 70-minute encounter at the Aoti Hockey Centre.

India had not won an Asiad hockey medal for the first time at the 2006 Doha Games and paid the price when they failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics two years ago.

The eight-time Olympic champions had bagged Asian Games titles in 1966 and 1998.

India’s Spanish coach Jose Brasa, who contract is up for renewel after this match, said the bronze medal was not a just reward for his team.

“I think we were the best side in the competition, winning five of our six matches,” said Brasa. “I can’t say I am happy, but at least the boys will not return home empty-handed.”

India, who won all their four league matches, were knocked out by a Malaysian golden goal in the semi-final.

South Korea, winners at the last two editions in Busan and Doha, were denied a hat-trick when they lost to Pakistan in a penalty shoot-out in the other semi-final.

The last time the Koreans finished fourth was in Beijing in 1990. -AFP