Going out with a gold

Tamarine Tanasugarn and Luksika Kumkhum upset 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 French Open doubles champion Hsieh Su-wei and her Taiwanese partner Chan Chin-wei to claim the women’s doubles gold medal at the Yerumul Tennis Courts 

The 37-year-old Tammy, who has played a record six Asian Games, gritted her teeth in what could be her farewell appearance to produce high-quality tennis for a 5-7 6-3 10-3 victory in the rain-delayed final. 

It was a golden end for Tamarine, who had to settle for two silvers in the singles at the 1998 Games in Bangkok and in the 2002 Games at Busan. The gold was Thailand’s first ever from women’s tennis doubles. 

The medal propelled Thailand to No 8 in the standings, with six golds, two silvers and 13 bronzes. 

The Thai pair got off to a great start by breaking the Taiwanese pair to lead 3-1. But they failed to capitalise on the advantage as Hsieh began to show her expertise at the net and broke back for four-all.

The Thais lost their momentum, and although they saved three set points at 4-5, they finally lost serve in the 12th game after Chan produced a winning volley to take the first set in 48 minutes.  After trading early breaks, the Thai duo stepped up a gear play to break in the seventh game and hold for a 5-3 lead. Chan, the weakest link of the four, committed several errors and lost her serve the next game to allow the Thais to level the tie.

In the super-tiebreak, Tammy and Luksika took full charge, preventing the Taiwanese from finding momentum by using attacking tennis and targeting Chan. In the end Chan blasted a forehand wide on the gold medal point. The emotional Tamarine was in tears as she embraced her 20-year-old partner after the game.

Today Luksika will chase her second gold medal, in the singles final against China’s Wang Qiang. No Thai woman has ever won a gold medal in the singles. 

South Korea won their first Games gold medal in tennis when Lim Yongkyu and 2013 Wimbledon junior finalist Chung Hyeon beat India’s Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh 7-5 7-6 (7-2). Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana won the bronze. 

 

Bloody end to boxing

Critics of a controversial decision to dispense with headguards in amateur boxing were given more ammunition yesterday when Pakistan’s Muhammad Waseem claimed an Asian Games medal just seconds into his quarter-final. 

Flyweight Waseem and Azat Usenaliev accidentally clashed heads moments after the opening bell, with the Krygyzstan boxer suffering a nasty gash above his eye.

With Usenaliev unable to continue, the referee had no option but to stop the fight with just 28 seconds gone and award Waseem a technical knockout.

Waseem advances to the semi-finals where he will face Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov and is thus guaranteed at least a bronze medal.

The International Amateur Boxing Association dispensed with headguards last year in a bid to align more closely with the professional game.

Britain’s former Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan has been critical of the new regulation, saying fighters need protection.“Headguards need to come back,” Khan said at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month. “Especially when you’ve got fighters who are fighting nearly five times a week.” 

Several fights in Incheon have had to be stopped for cuts caused by accidental head clashes, which were rare in the era of headguards. If it is a deliberate butt then the referee is obliged to disqualify the offender if either boxer is unable to continue. If it is an accident then the scorecards are used to decide the winner.