Muminov stripped of silver medal GUANGZHOU, China: And on the seventh day of competition, the Guangzhou Asian Games announced its first drug cheat. Judo silver medalist Shokir Muminov was the first athlete caught for doping, with organizers announcing Friday that the 27-year-old from Uzbekistan had been disqualified from the games and stripped of his silver medal after failing a doping test. Muminov lost the gold medal match in the 81-kilogram division to South Korea's Kim Jae-bum on Nov. 14. Dr. Mani Jegathesan, chairman of the Olympic Council of Asia's medical committee, said Muminov's urine test taken after the competition showed traces of the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine The World Anti-Doping Agency recently loosened the classification of Methylhexaneamine for next year to the “specified stimulant” list, which covers drugs that are more susceptible to inadvertent use and can carry reduced penalties. Sanctions for use of the drug can be reduced if athletes prove they did not intend to enhance performance. Penalties range from a warning to a two-year ban. More than 10,000 athletes in 42 sports are competing in the games which end Nov. 27. In the men's baseball final, South Korea beat Taiwan 9-3. South Korea moved ahead 2-1 in the second and then capitalized on some erratic pitching by Taiwan, scoring four runs in the third including two out-of-the-park shots by Lee Dae-ho and Kang Jung-ho. Japan won the bronze by defeating China earlier in the day 6-2. Five of Japan's runs were scored in the first inning. Nida Rashid scored an unbeaten 51 and took four wickets for 16 runs to lead Pakistan to the first-ever cricket gold medal awarded at the Asian Games with a 10-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the women's Twenty20 final. In weightlifting, South Korea's Jang Mi-ran, dubbed the world's strongest woman, won gold in the super heavyweight class. Jang lifted 130 kilograms in the snatch and 181 in the clean and jerk to finish with a total of 311. She was unsuccessful in her attempt to lift 188 in the clean and jerk, which would have broken her previous world record. Haeider Hamarasheid, who does his training in a river due to the lack of a rowing basin in Iraq, earlier gave his country its first medal of the games, taking a bronze in the men's single sculls. The race was won by Bajrang Lal Takhar, who gave India its second gold of the games. Steven Wong won the BMX cycling gold for Hong Kong in a time of 30.37 seconds, about a second ahead of the minor medalists from Japan, Akifumi Sakamoto and Masahiro Sampei. Ma Liyun won the women's race. UAE in semis Ali Khaseif Housani made the decisive save and then Mohamed Saeed Alshehhi stepped up to secure the United Arab Emirates' 9-8 win on penalties in a quarterfinal against North Korea at the Asian Games. The narrow victory Friday earned UAE a semifinal spot aganist South Korea, which beat Uzbekistan 3-1 in extra time. In other quarterfinals, Iran edged Oman 1-0 to move into a semifinal against Japan, a 1-0 winner over Bryan Robson's Thailand squad. The UAE-North Korea match was locked 0-0 after extra time, forcing a shootout which progressed to 8-8 before goalkeeper Housani saved Ri Chol Myong's attempt.
