Taekwondo Controversy in Guangzhou; "Worst Football Miss; Hot Ticket

Taekwondo Controversy

The first major controversy to hit the 16th Asian Games saw a Chinese Taipei athlete disqualified on the opening day of the Taekwondo competition for allegedly tampering with her footwear.

The decision led to an official protest as well as a reaction from the sports minister.

"We regret the decision and are very shocked. We ask the review committee will publicize its results and convince us,' sports minister Tai Hsia-ling told the Weilai sports TV channel.

The competitor 25-year-old Yang Shu-chun burst into tears after the decision was made nearing the end of the first round of her under-49 kg division in which she was 9-0 up against Vietnam's Vu Thi Hau.

A referee stopped the fight and pulled Yang off the court, accusing her of tampering with the sensors to try to manipulate scores, Taiwan coach Liu Yong-lung told reporters.

He explained: "Each Taiwan player carried two pairs of foot protector made by the international taekwondo federation-recognized manufacturer. When Yang arrived for the competition, the inspectors said her foot protector did not meet their requirement, so she took out the second pair and was allowed to wear them.

"If there a problem with her foot protector, it is the inspector and the chief referee's fault."

Yang burst into tears and protested the ruling, saying "I don't know what's wrong with my foot protector. This game is not fair at all!"

Vu went on to claim the bronze medal, with the gold going to China’s Wu Jingyu.

Yang’s distress contrasted with her team mate Huang Hsien Yung, who triumphed in the under 46kg division.

It was in taekwondo that Iran became the latest country to strike gold with a double success. Yousef Karami won the men’s under 87kg and Alireza Nassrazadany was successful in the men’s under 74kg.

Thursday sees the debut of Dragon Boat racing in the Asian Games, at the lake in Zengcheng, 47 miles east of the city center. Six gold medals will be contested over the next three days.

The history of the event dates back more than 2000 years to the sacrifice of Qu Yuan who was protesting against corruption in the period known as the Warring States.

The Dragon Boat Festival is held in June each year, and is now a public holiday in China. The home team will be desperate to be the first, and possibly the last winners, of the Asian Games gold medals.

With the number of events to be held in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014 to be cut from 42 to 35, Dragon Boat racing is likely to miss out.

One thing almost certain to happen Thursday is the host nation passing the 100 gold medal total, as China closed day five just four short of that landmark.

Qatar Miss-ery

There have been many outstanding performances already in the Games, but it is 18-year-old Qatari footballer Fahad Khalfan who has become a global superstar for the wrong reason – what some have called the worst miss in football history.

Two days after his catastrophic miss from two yards in front of an open goal, Khalfan is making headlines around the world and is thetalk of the town here in Guangzhou. The score when Khalfan attempted his shot was nil all in the 90th minute.

His Qatari team mates from all sports have come together to support the teenage striker who is now back home in Doha following the defending champions 1-0 defeat by Uzbekistan Monday night.

"He is my very good friend," said table tennis player Mohamed Al-Saadi. "It has been so difficult for him because he is a good young striker.

"All the Qatar team has been giving him support and telling him there is nothing he can do about it now. We really hope that he will get over this moment."

One YouTube clip of the miss had logged nearly 365,000 views.

Al-Saadi, who featured as a 15-year-old in Doha, is back in action Thursday on the table tennis table, with a tough draw in the doubles against the number one seeds from China.

Al-Saadi hopes to qualify to compete in London in 2012, when he hopes his good friend Khalfan might make headlines for the right reasons.

Animal Slaughter for Islamic Festival

Games organizers made accommodations for the slaughter of livestock during the Islamic Corban festival.

Corban is an annual holiday for Chinese ethnic minorities that adhere to the Muslim faith.

According to a statement from GAGOC, athletes could even select their own livestock for slaughter at the Nov. 16th celebration.

"If youwant to slaughter livestock yourself, please contact Imams or staff of the Guangzhou Islamic Association. The cost for each sheep is RMB100 (or $15)."

Slaughtered livestock is forbidden in the Asian Games Town.

Hot Ticket

There may be one week to go before the final of the men’s 110m hurdles competition, but Liu Xiang’s bid for glory is the hottest ticket in town.

One ticket has just been sold on the Taobao selling website in China for $240, 20 times the face value of $12.

"There are thousands of tickets on sale on that website, with many of them costing a lot of money," said female office worker and sports fan Yu Qiaomei.

"The most popular sports are the ones that are sold out, like the badminton, table tennis, swimming and diving.

"They are generally the ones where the tickets cost most money on Taobao, but tickets to see Liu Xiang are the most expensive."

Foreign sports fans, who cannot easily deal over the internet, have been met by scalpers on the streets, often with wads of tickets inside rolled up newspapers.

They were offering an opening price of $370 for a pair of tickets to the 400m freestyle clash between Park Taehwan and Zhang Lin, although the price swiftly dropped to around $200.

Much has been done by GAGOC in order to improve access to events with the release of emergency tickets for sale, and extra points of sale added.

But as with any major sporting event there are plenty of people looking to cash in, and internet sale sites such as Taobao offer an alternative to the traditional street corner.

ATR coverage of the Guangzhou Asian Games

is Proudly Presented by PyeongChang 2018

With reporting from Matt Horn in Guangzhou.

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