DOHA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Zheng Jie silenced
hundreds of noisy Indian fans by beating Sania Mirza in the Asian Games women's
singles final on Wednesday, saving some face for an under-performing Chinese
women's team.
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Zheng Jie of China returns the ball back
during the women's singles final of tennis match against Sania Mirza of
India at Doha Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 13, 2006. Zheng won her Indian opponent
2-1. (Xinhua Photo/Song Zhenping)
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With just two days of competition left, China is set
to beat its gold count of 150 set in the 2002 Asian Games, after piling up nine
golds on Tuesday from boxing, cycling, tennis, diving, fencing and hockey to
make it 147 in total.
Zheng Jie's gold came after the much-hyped Chinese
women's tennis team suffered an early exit from the team event and lost its top
singles and doubles seeds on Tuesday, enraging Chinese top tennis officials who
called Asia's No. 1 Li Na and Olympic champions Li Ting/Sun Tiantian
"irresponsible" and "unprofessional".
Zheng subdued Mirza 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in a clash lasting
almost two hours.
"It was very difficult," said Zheng. "Everyone was
supporting Sania, I just told myself to hang on."
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Gold medalist Zheng Jie of China attends
the victory ceremony of the women's singles final of tennis match at Doha
Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 13, 2006. (Xinhua Photo/Liu Haifeng)
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Zheng and her partner Yan Zi, doubles champions in
Australian Open and Wimbledon Open this year, will fight for the doubles crown
with a Chinese Taipei pair.
Five hours after the singles loss, Mirza teamed up
with Indian veteran Leander Paes to win the mixed doubles, beating Japan's
Satoshi Iwabuchi/Akiko Morigami 7-5, 5-7, 6-2.
The 20-year-old Mirza didn't show a sign of fatigue,
nor did the 33-year-old Paes, who had only an hour break after combining with
Mahesh Bhupathi in their 5-7, 9-2, 6-3 victory over Thai twins Sanchai
Ratiwatana and Sonchat in the men's doubles final.
Paes owed the back-to-back victories to the tough
nerves and a supporting crowd.
DPR Korean women's soccer team also banked on their
steely mentality and raucous fans to beat Japan 4-2 on penalties after the extra
timed ended in 0-0.
Most of the DPR Korean delegation was on spectators'
stands when Jong Myong Hui shut out two Japanese penalties and Ri Kum Suk,Ri Un
Gyong, Ho Sun Hui and Jong Pok Sim all found the target.
In the bronze medal game, China routed South Korea
2-0 on Wang Kun's goals.
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Members of the Chinese team pose for a
photocall before the football women's bronze medal match against South
Korea at Doha Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 13, 2006. China beat South Korea 2-0 to
win the bronze medal. (Xinhua Photo/Liao Yujie)
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While the Chinese women's soccer team, former Olympic
and World Cup runners-up, only showed a bit of their past glory in the Asian
Games, the hard-working women's hockey squad were rewarded with a gold medal.
Ren Yi's diving deflection on a penalty corner in the
41st minute clinched China a 1-0 victory over Japan, which had beaten China 3-0
last week.
"The girls had trained very hard for the Asian Games,
this gold medal is a reward for their effort," said China's South Korean head
coach Kim Chang Back.
China also landed two rare golds in boxing as Zou
Shiming outscored Suban Pannon of Thailand in the light flyweight to win the
country's first Asian Games boxing title since 1990 and Hu Qing doubled up by
beating Munkh Uranchimeg of Mongolia in the lightweight.
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China's Hu Qing (R) fights with Munkh
Erdene Uranchimeg of Mongolia during the light 60kg final bout of boxing
at Doha Asiad, Qatar, Dec. 13, 2006. Hu Qing won the gold medal of the
event. (Xinhua Photo/Chen Xie)Photo Gallery
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The other four boxing golds went to the Philippines,
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
China clean-swept the day's diving and fencing
titles.
Olympic champion Wu Minxia led teammate He Zi to a
1-2 finish in the women's 3m springboard and He Chong and Luo Yutong added a
gold and a silver to China's collection.
Chinese fencers crossed swords with South Koreans on
two fronts, winning the men's team sabre final 45-44 and the women's epee 43-36.
The other team who swept the board on Tuesday was the
Iranian freestyle wrestlers, who won the 60kg, 74kg and 96kg events.
Singapore enjoyed a gold binge on the sea, winning
sailing's 420 men's race, 470 women's race and Beneteau 7.5 open event.
South Korea, Japan and Thailand each picked a sailing
gold.
Thailand had its second gold of the day from
sepaktakraw's men's double event, with the women's double title going to
Vietnam.
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