MONACO (AP) — Bahraini distance runner Hassan Chani has been banned for four years for doping and stripped of his 2018 Asian Games gold medal, the Athletics Integrity Unit said...
GENEVA (AP) — All Asian qualifying games for the 2022 World Cup scheduled this year were postponed to 2021 on Wednesday, adding to a global fixture backlog for soccer's biggest competition caused...
TOKYO (AP) — Uncertainty grips next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics: Will there be fans or empty stadiums in 14 months? And how will thousands of athletes, staff, and technical officials travel,...
MONACO (AP) — Former world indoor 400-meter champion Kemi Adekoya has been banned for four years for doping in another drug case to hit Bahrain's squad of elite African-born runners.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has officially joined bidding to host the 2032 Olympics following its success staging the Asian Games last year, the deputy chairman of its national Olympic committee said Tuesday, highlighting the rising ambitions of the giant but perennially underperforming Southeast Asian nation.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese swimming star Rikako Ikee has been diagnosed with leukemia less than 18 months before the Olympics in Tokyo.
The 18-year-old Ikee won six gold medals at the Asian Games in Jakarta last year and was tipped to be one of the faces of the 2020 Olympics in her home country.
She posted on her verified Twitter account Tuesday that her illness surfaced when she got tests after returning from a training trip to Australia.
LONDON (AP) — Son Heung-min is looking forward to making history with South Korea at the upcoming Asian Cup.
He's just sorry it has to come at the expense of helping Tottenham maintain its title challenge in the Premier League.
Son might be in the form of his career, having scored eight goals in his last nine games as Tottenham moved into second place in the league and into serious contention for the title.
A grueling summer of soccer for Son Heung-min took in the World Cup in Russia, a preseason tour to the United States, then the Asian Games in Indonesia where he played six games in 18 days in stifling conditions.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Boy band BTS hit the top of the charts not long after Son Heung-min and his South Korean soccer team stepped atop the Asian Games podium.
The performers and athletes brought plenty of acclaim to the country, but it has sparked a national debate on military service.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The Asian Games ended on Sunday, with China, Japan and South Korea — as always — dominating the two-week event. But several other nations closed ground slowly, making the Big Three not quite as dominant.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's hosting of the Asian Games and a record haul of gold medals have swelled national pride, boosting the re-election campaign of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
The 2-week games ended Saturday with Indonesia fourth on the medal table behind China, Japan and South Korea. A good chunk of its 31 gold medals were in obscure sports held only at the Asian Games, and none was from swimming or athletics.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia billed itself the "Energy of Asia" during the Asian Games, which closed Sunday in a ceremony emphasizing the country's diversity and the ties linking the 11,000 athletes who competed for 45 nations.
The opening ceremony two weeks ago was highly choreographed, but the athletes starred in most of the closing pomp as they sang and danced on the infield at the Bung Karno stadium during a persistent shower, the first rain in Jakarta for a month.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tottenham forward Son Heung-min will get to skip military service.
Son avoided the service obligation when South Korea defeated Japan 2-1 in the Asian Games soccer final on Saturday.
The South Korean government rewards holders of Asian Games gold medals and all Olympic medals with the exemption. Military service is compulsory for South Korean males, and Son would have faced at least 21 months of service and the loss of millions in income.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia will bid to host the 2032 Olympics following the success of the Asian Games held there over the past two weeks, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said in a surprise announcement Saturday that highlights the rising ambition of the giant but long underperforming Southeast Asian nation.
Jokowi, who is campaigning for a second term, made the announcement at a meeting in Bogor with the presidents of the International Olympic Committee and the Asian Olympic Committee.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indian light flyweight Amit Panghal upset Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov to win gold at the Asian Games on Saturday and deliver a blow to Uzbekistan's domination of the region's men's boxing titles.
Uzbekistan fighters still managed to win five of the seven golds in the men's competition but lost the one that seemed like a sure bet when Panghal beat Dusmatov on a split points decision.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — He may no longer be playing but ex-Houston Rockets star Yao Ming remains a talismanic figure in Chinese basketball as he inspires a generation of Chinese NBA stars toward a gold medal at the Asian Games.
A China team featuring Rockets center Zhou Qi and Dallas Mavericks guard Ding Yanyuhang looms as a heavy favorite to win men's final against Iran on Saturday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The combined Koreas women's basketball team reached the Asian Games final, giving one of the sentimental favorites a chance at a historic gold medal.
A favorite in another sport won't get the chance at gold, though, after defending field hockey champion India was upset later Thursday in a shootout against Malaysia.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Some Asian Games crowds have been sparse, particularly at track and field where fewer than 5,000 fans at evening finals have been packed into a cordoned off section along the main straightaway at the 76,000-seat national stadium.
TOKYO (AP) — Four Japanese basketballers who were sent home from the Asian Games for hiring prostitutes while on a night out in Jakarta have been suspended from playing for one year.
Yuko Mitsuya, the head of the Japan Basketball Association, bowed in apology before making the announcement at a Wednesday news conference in Tokyo.
"They lacked the sense of pride and responsibility that players in the Japanese delegation should have," she said.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Esports organizers say don't blame the games.
Executives at the Asian Games have expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly shooting at a video game tournament in a Florida shopping mall. But Kenneth Fok, president of the Asian Electronic Sports Federation, said the shooting was more a reflection of U.S. gun laws than the gaming community.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Every host has a signature event that defines the success of the games, at least in the context of sports.
Jonatan Christie won that event for the 2018 Asian Games hosts with a 21-18, 20-22, 21-15 win over Taiwan's Chou Tien-chen to secure the badminton men's singles gold medal for Indonesia.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia won its most anticipated medal of the Asian Games on Tuesday with a badminton gold in men's singles.
Badminton is the country's most practiced sport, and it's the only one that's ever earned the sprawling nation a gold medal at the Olympics.
"Everyone in school, high school, in college plays," explained Luvita Tinambunan, a volunteer working at the badminton arena. "It runs in our country's blood. It's part of us like fried rice."
If South Korea's national team is to reach the final of the Asian Games and win an exemption from military service for its players, then it will have to get past Vietnam and the "Korean Hiddink."
Korean coach Park Hang-seo, a member of Guus Hiddink's coaching staff at the 2002 World Cup when South Korea reached the semifinals, is coaching Vietnam.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tottenham forward Son Heung-min is still on target for an Asian Games gold medal that will earn a reprieve from military service.
Son's South Korea rallied to beat Uzbekistan 4-3 with a penalty late in extra time on Monday to advance to the semifinals.
The soccer title would come with a huge bonus: South Korea's government gives exemptions from compulsory national service to those who win an Asian Games gold or any Olympic medal.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Su Bingtian gave world junior champion Lalu Muhammad Zohri a taste of what it's like to race against the fastest men on the continent.
The Asian record holder from China was the hot favorite for the Asian Games gold medal in the 100 meters, but the crowd in Jakarta was there to support their 18-year-old local hope from the earthquake-ravaged island of Lombok.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — There was no dividing them. The folk song Arirang played and the "unification" flag was raised to celebrate the first gold medal by a combined Koreas team at a major multi-sport event.
The crew comprising South Koreans and North Koreans won the 500-meter dragon boat final on Sunday at the Asian Games co-host city of Palembang, a day after the paddlers delivered the historic first medal for a combined Koreas team by taking bronze in the 200-meter dragon boat competition.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — At 16, Jessa Khan has already won a stack of gold medals at state, regional and international competitions. But these are nothing to match her gold medal in jiu-jitsu at the Asian Games.
She won for Cambodia, thrilling for a young woman who was born in Texas, lives in southern California and was competing for the birthplace of her father.
"I won a lot of gold medals before, but this one was very special," she said in an interview Sunday with the Associated Press.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Pusarla Venkata Sindhu of India— known as PV — turned a silver medal two years ago in badminton at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics into millions of dollars in endorsements.
She's the favorite to win gold at the Asian Games, though even that result may not yield the same windfall.
PALEMBANG, Indonesia (AP) — Of the Asian games at the Asian Games, sepaktakraw should get some billing as a festival event.
With origins in rural southeast Asian provinces — several countries lay claim to creating it — sepaktakraw is like an aerial soccer or hands-free volleyball where players can use their feet, knees, heads, elbows or shoulders to propel a woven, synthetic ball. No hands.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rikako Ikee could very well be the smiling face of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a new star that organizers are sure to promote during the build-up to the games.
The 18-year-old Japanese swimmer has a lot to be happy about.
Capped by a record eight medals at the Asian Games — six gold — Ikee has become an Olympic favorite, particularly in the 100-meter butterfly where she is chasing the world record.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — In what would have been unthinkable in India before the Asian Games, there'll be no kabaddi gold medals for the spiritual home of the sport.
A day after Iran stunned the seven-time champion Indian men in the semifinals, the Iranians won the women's title with a 27-24 thriller over India on Friday.
Too bad for India, which has long dominated a sport that blends tag and tackle with wrestling moves.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Seven-time Olympic gymnast Oksana Chusovitina has taken the silver medal in the vault at the Asian Games.
The 43-year-old from Uzbekistan missed the gold medal by one-tenth of a point. She has already said she expects to compete in Tokyo in her eighth Olympics at 45.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Mark Schubert is unmistakable on the pool deck at the Asian Games. The former head coach of the U.S. national swimming team is now wearing different colors — an orange shirt with the Chinese flag on his chest.
Dismissed in 2010 as the U.S. national team head coach amid a sexual abuse scandal, Schubert has been working for a year as a "part-time adviser" for the Chinese team.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — What's left of Finton Lewis' thinning hair is spiked and dyed an orange-red color.
The 64-year-old Lewis says the haircut keeps him feeling younger on the outside, and playing the card game of bridge keeps his brain nimble on the inside.
"I know I'm not as physically fit as most sports people are," said Lewis, who is playing for India in the bridge competition at the Asian Games.