Liu seeks redemption

Martin Parry

Liu Xiang is seeking redemption in front of home fans for his Beijing Olympic disaster as the Asian Games was tarnished by its second positive doping test.

With the showpiece multi-sports event on Day 12, dominant table-toppers China sit on 165 gold medals, the same as they won in Doha in 2006 but with four more days of competition left.

Once past that landmark, they will be gunning to overtake their best haul ever - 183 at the 1990 Asiad in Beijing.

Liu is looking to give them a boost by winning the 110m hurdles, with a capacity 75,000 screaming fans expected at Aoti Main Stadium to cheer him on, as well as an estimated television audience of up to 600 million.

It is now 27 months since his calamitous outing in Beijing, when he limped out of his heat with an Achilles tendon injury to shatter the hopes of a nation.

But China's first Olympic track gold medallist remains hugely popular and is widely expected to win.

"I expect to run (the final) in 13.20. I'll try my best," said the former world record holder who is attempting to claim his third Asiad title.

"I'm here to enjoy the atmosphere." Teammate Shi Dongpeng is his key rival. Other finals to be decided include men's discus and long jump and women's pole vault.

The Games though suffered a setback when Uzbek wrestler Jakhongir Muminov became the second athlete to fail a drugs test.

The 23-year-old competed in the Greco-Roman 84kg division and lost on Monday in the quarter-finals.

"The athlete has been disqualified from these Games and his performance has been nullified," said Dr. Mani Jegathesan, chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia's medical committee.

The Asiad, which began on November 12, has seen one previous drugs scandal, also involving an athlete from Uzbekistan who was also named Muminov, although they are not related.

Judoka Shokir Muminov won a silver medal but had it taken away after testing positive for methylhexaneamine, a stimulant used widely as a nasal decongestant, which was the same drug involved in Wednesday's case.

South Korea are second in the medals table and its coaches and competitors were told to maintain cordial relations with rival athletes from North Korea after an artillery attack on a South Korean island Tuesday.

"I told coaches that our athletes should just act normally around or with North Korean athletes," said Lee Kee-Heung, head of the South Korean athletic delegation, according to Yonhap news agency.

"We're all here to play sports. We don't need to react to the situation back home. This (Asiad) is a platform for sports."

North and South Korean athletes clashed on the wrestling mats, with the four-minute duel sealed by a handshake and a lukewarm embrace.

North Korean Yang Chun-Song came out on top in a bout with the South's Kim Dai-Sung.

Once the fight was over, the North Korean winner avoided waiting reporters, leaving Kim Chang-Kew, the South Korean president of the Asian wrestling body, facing the questions.

"We are at the Asian Games now and that is to make peace. But they broke it," he said, before adding: "I'm not talking about politics. I don't want to get into politics."

GUANGZHOU, China (AFP)