Uzbekistan's Rakhimova clinches Asiad women's kumite 55kg gold

HANGZHOU, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan's karateka Sevinch Rakhimova beat Chinese Taipei's Ku Tsui-ping 9-1 to clinch the women's kumite 55kg gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Saturday, while Ding Jiamei of China pocketed a bronze medal in the same event.

Ku beat Iran's Fatemeh Saadati 4-0 in the quarterfinals, and edged out Cok Istri Agung Sanistyarani of Indonesia 7-3 in the semifinals. However, she was quickly defeated by Sevinch Rakhimova in the final, who had eased to victory over Ding 7-0 in the quarterfinals and Hwang Soo-hyun of South Korea 8-0 in the semifinals.

Despite saying it was a pity that she lost the match through being too cautious, Ku added that she was still very happy with her silver medal. "Anyway, I fought my way into the final, and it was not easy," she said.

Ding also expressed regret at her failure to take top honors. "I wanted the gold for my coach and my team," Ding said, adding that she would work hard to keep making progress and winning championships in the future.

In other bouts, Muhammad Arif Afifudd Bin Ab Malik of Malaysia beat Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yuldashev 10-4 to take the men's kumite 84kg gold, Fahed Alajmi of Kuwait defeated Jordan's Abdel Rahman Almasatfa 9-6 to grab the men's kumite 67kg gold, while Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan crushed Nepal's Arika Gurung 3-0 for the women's kumite +68kg gold.