China's players stand on the podium during awarding ceremony of the women's basketball at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Nov. 25, 2010. China won the final by 70-64 and grabbed the gold medal. (Xinhua/Meng Yongmin)
GUANGZHOU, South China, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- China scored a quite important win when they edged South Korea 70-64 for their fifth Asian Games women's basketball gold medal on Thursday.
Their men counterparts will be expected to emulate their achievement when the team take on South Korea, the 55-51 winners over Japan, in their seventh Asian Games final meeting.
Wang Shipeng hit a three-pointer in the dying seconds to give the Chinese men's side a 68-65 semifinal win over Iran in one of the most popular sports in the games.
Probably more popular here is soccer that saw Japan overcome the United Arab Emirates 1-0 to seize the Asian Games title for the first time.
South Korea won the bronze after coming back from two goals down in the last 11 minutes to beat four time champions Iran.
Hockey, a less fancied sport here, is a big thing back in Pakistan where jubilant fans filled the streets after their national team beat Malaysia 2-0 for their second hockey gold medal in 20 years and the country's third in Guangzhou Asian Games.
India came third with a 1-0 win over South Korea.
Malaysia got some consolation from their women's team win in squash while Pakistan won the men's team.
Olympic diving champion He Chong, the last torch bearer in the opening ceremony, defended his men's 3m springboard glory before home folks while 14-year-old Hu Yadan eased to the women's platform win.
In boxing, China created their best result at the Asian Games with two golds and two silvers and more titles may come on Friday.
