Li Na knock out,Lee into men's tennis final
(AP)Updated: 2006-12-13 09:24
South Korean tennis star Lee Hyung-taik rallied from a poor first set Tuesday to advance to the Asian Games gold medal match, while top-seeded Li Na was dumped out of the women's semifinals by India's Sania Mirza.
 Li Na of China returns a shot aganist fourth-seeded Sania Mirza of India.Li lost to Mirza and was elimated from the women's tennis semifinals in Doha Asian Games December 12,2006.[Xinhua]  |
"During the first set my body was heavy and Mamiit didn't make a lot of errors, he was tenacious and aggressive," said Lee. "In the second set I was more confident and managed to string some points together and finish the games off."
Lee, the highest profile player at Doha after the withdrawal of defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan with a wrist injury, will next play either Thailand's Danai Udomchoke or Go Soeda, who are contesting the other semifinal later Tuesday.
Li, Asia's highest-ranked player, dropped 27 unforced errors, 20 in the second set, in her match against fourth-seeded Mirza to go down 6-2, 6-2.
"I had seen her play before, I knew I had to attack her strong forehand," said Mirza. "It was a big match, one of the better matches I've played."
Mirza will contest the women's final against China's Zheng Jie, who beat Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-3, 6-2. Li shares the bronze medal with Nakamura.
"I felt as though the ball was coming off my racket really well," said Li. "She (Mirza) just played really, really well. She deserved to win."
It seems a day at the second week of the Asian Games would not be complete without a doping announcement, and Iraqi bodybuilder Saad Faeaz obliged by being disqualified after 134 ampules of the performance-enhancing steroid nandrolone were found in his luggage by authorities at Doha's international airport.
Faeaz, 32, placed seventh in prejudging for the 75-kilogram class last Friday. He did not test positive in competition. It was the fifth doping-related disqualification announced in four days at the Doha Games, but the first from an out-of-competition offense.
South Korea won the men's cycling team pursuit, beating Iran and China for the gold medal.
Japanese athletes dominated early bouts on the first day in karate, with Tetsuya Furukawa beating Malaysia's Ku Jin Keat in the men's individual kata, while Nao Morooka took gold in same event for women.
The Iran basketball team reached its first semifinal of a men's team tournament in 55 years by beating Japan 68-64.
Iran last played a basketball semifinal at the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 at New Delhi, where it finished with the bronze.
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