INCHEON, South Korea: Asia’s athletes put on world-class performances and China stepped towards the 2016 Olympics but controversy was never far away at an engrossing Asian Games.
Between the “Gangnam Style” opening ceremony and Saturday’s spectacular close, 17 world records fell and dozens of potential Olympic champions were unearthed.
China topped the medals table with 151 golds, some way short of their record 199 in 2010 but easily enough to keep them top of Asia’s Olympics for the ninth time in a row.
A rare visit by a high-ranking North Korean delegation for Saturday’s closing ceremony warmed Korean ties and indicated that Pyongyang’s leaders enjoyed their team’s performance.
But away from the Games’ successes, doping, sexual harassment, problems with the officiating and even theft hogged the headlines in Incheon.
And with swathes of empty seats testament to an indifferent public reaction, the event’s legacy stands in question in what is now South Korea’s most indebted city.
Pop phenomenon Psy brought a dour opening ceremony to life with his hit “Gangnam Style”, heralding the start of 15 days of competition in 49 widespread venues in Incheon.
Two sexual harassment cases in the build-up to the tournament had brought swift condemnation and saw an Iranian football official sent home.
Qatar’s women’s basketball team were at the centre of a storm when they were ordered off the court for not removing their hijab headscarves, which are against rules set by the sport’s world body.
“This is an insult to us, they did not respect our religion,” Qatar forward Refaa Morjan Mohammed told AFP.
Boxing rules were also in the spotlight when Indian boxer Sarita Devi tearfully refused her lightweight bronze medal in protest at the judging.
The Philippines and Mongolia, who were also on the end of some questionable decisions, promised to take up the problem with the International Boxing Association.
In athletics, there was confusion as teenager Ruth Jebet was disqualified from steeplechase gold as she was about to step onto the victory podium, before being reinstated on appeal the following day. — AFP