Zheng wins tennis gold, two-man sailing team makes Asian Games history

DOHA, Qatar (AP) _ Tennis player Zheng Jie added to China's burgeoning total of gold medals at the Asian Games on Wednesday while a pair of South Korean sailors made games history. <br/><br/>In the

Wednesday, December 13th 2006, 9:32 am

By: News On 6

DOHA, Qatar (AP) _ Tennis player Zheng Jie added to China's burgeoning total of gold medals at the Asian Games on Wednesday while a pair of South Korean sailors made games history.

In the women's final, Zheng beat fourth-seeded Sania Mirza of India 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. In the deciding set, Zheng went up two service breaks to lead 4-1, then won her next service game at love.

In the final game, Mirza double-faulted twice _ on the last two points of the match.

``I served quite well in the beginning, but then began making silly errors,'' said Mirza. ``Zheng capitalized on her chances and I did not.''

The veteran doubles team of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi gave India a gold in men's doubles, beating twin brothers Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-3.

On Doha Bay, Kim Dae-young and Jung Sung-ahn won the 470 class gold, the first sailors to win gold medals in three consecutive games.

China will again top the Asian Games gold medal list, and is all but assured of going over the 150 that it won at the 2002 Games in Busan _ midway through the competition Wednesday, it had 142 golds.

The world's top women's squash player, Nicol David of Malaysia, was completely overpowering in her semifinal with Mak Pui Hin of Hong Kong, winning 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 in just 21 minutes to advance to Thursday's final.

David, 23, came to Doha on a 33-match winning streak and had won six straight titles. She's extended the run to 35 in row, having lost only five points in six sets here, and looks good for a gold medal.

World champion Zou Shiming earned China its first games boxing gold medal in 16 years when his one-sided light flyweight bout against Thailand's Suban Pannon was stopped in the second round. Zhou pounded Suban mercilessly in the first round to take a 10-1 lead on points.

After taking an 11-0 lead in the second, the referee stopped the fight.

``Last night I did not sleep, I was thinking about this match and I also did not eat,'' said Zhou. ``When my bus was coming toward the stadium, I was only thinking about this match.''

China's last Asian Games boxing gold came from light heavyweight Bai Chongguang at the 1990 Beijing games.

Lightweight Hu Qing added another gold medal for China when he used some powerful combinations to beat Mongolia's Munkh Erdene Uranchimeg 38-22.

In other gold medal events Wednesday, South Korea won the women's team in archery, defeating China 215-209 at the Lusail Shooting Complex.

Park Sung-hyun, a member of South Korea's four-person team, said she was surprised by the popularity of the sport during the games.

``I am so grateful for the interest that has grown for this event, which has not been so popular previously,'' said Park. I hope the interest ... will grow and become well-known.''

South Korea's men's team later took the archery gold and Japan won gold in men's team sabre in fencing while Hong Kong's women's team took the epee gold. Indonesia and Vietnam won the men's and women's double title, respectively, in sepak takraw.