HANGZHOU: Saudi Arabia’s team collected their second gold medal at the 19th Asian Games after 20-year-old athlete Issa Ghazwani won the 800-meter race on Tuesday. Ghazwani triumphed in a time of 1 minute, 48.05 seconds in Hangzhou, China, beating Indian contender Mohammed Afsal, who came in second in 1:48.43, with Hussein Al-Farsi, of Oman, third. Tuesday’s gold means the Kingdom’s team have now increased their medal tally to five: two golds, two silvers and a bronze. Saudi Arabian boxer Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi left the competition after losing to his North Korean opponent in the quarterfinal of the 51 kg category. The Green Falcons basketball team were eliminated after losing 76-57 against Jordan in the quarterfinals. The basketball team had qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second behind the Iranian team in Group One, which also included Kazakhstan and the UAE. Saudi weightlifter Mahmoud Al-Hamid was eliminated from the competition after finishing seventh in the 73 kg category. Al-Hamid lifted 147 kg in the snatch and 180 kg in the clean and jerk, but his total of 327 kg was not enough to secure qualification for the next stage.
