India overcomes Pak; Dovgun just perfect

India rallied for a 4-2 win over arch-rival Pakistan in a field hockey encounter that commanded most attention at the Afro-Asian Games.

India rallied for a 4-2 win over archrival Pakistan in a field hockey encounter that commanded most attention Monday at the Afro-Asian Games.

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World champion shooter Olga Dovgun was denied a world record despite firing a perfect score and host India collected the men's and women's team tennis titles.

But those medals and 10 others on the third day of the two-continent meet were just preludes for fans transfixed by the hockey showdown.

Gagan Ajit Singh scored twice as India overcame a 2-1 halftime deficit with three goals in the second half, delighting the parochial local crowd.

Head-to-heads have been rare recently as the neighboring countries have been at odds over the disputed Kashmir region. The reward for India was top place in Pool B and a semifinal against Malaysia.

Pakistan placed second in Pool B and will meet Pool A winner South Korea, the Asian Games champion, in the other semifinal.

The Malaysians completed an All-Asian semifinal lineup despite losing 2-1 to South Korea.

Malaysia finished equal on points with South Africa, but advanced on superior goal aggregate.

The South Africans rounded off with 5-0 demolition of Ghana and Egypt overcame Nigeria 4-2 in a rough match featuring six yellow cards.

At the shooting venue, Kazakhstan's Dovgun fired a faultless 600 to claim the gold medal in the women's 50-meter rifle prone competition.

But Dovgun, who twice equaled the world record of 597 last year, won't get official recognition for a world record because of the grading of the tournament.

"I'm elated to shoot 600. Not getting recognized as the world record doesn't worry me," said Dovgun, 33. "I'm confident of doing it again to get recognized as the world record."

Li Hui of China won the men's trap gold after a three-way shootout with India's Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Anwar Sultan.

Jin Di won the men's skeet to give the Chinese another gold, while South Africa's Jaco Henn won the men's 50-meter rifle prone and Vietnam's Nguyen Manh Tuong won the 25-meter center-fire pistol.

After three days, China led the medals standings with nine gold, two silver and a bronze, followed by Japan (5-2-1) and South Korea (4-2-2).

Nigeria led the African nations with four gold, two silver and two bronze, followed by South Africa (3-6-7).

A judging controversy overshadowed boxing, with All African bantamweight champion Bouizane Malik losing a quarterfinal to Ferdie Gamo of the Philippines and then protesting at the result. The Algerian staged a sit-in after a 2-1 points decision, and claimed bias by judges.

"At no account I lost to him. I have been declared a loser because I am from Africa and my opponent is from Asia," Malik said.

Organizers said a technical glitch meant only the scores for Gamo were computed and the outcome was decided on a vote by the judges. The computer problem was fixed before Asian heavyweight champion Sergei Mikhailov, the Olympic bronze medalist, beat South Africa's Apostolost Eleftheriou 28-10.

In tennis, India's men swept Nigeria 3-0 and its women took an unbeatable 2-0 lead over Indonesia before the doubles was canceled.

Algerian Mahrez Mebarek won the first of six swimming gold Monday when he took the 400-meter freestyle in 4 minutes, 7.66 seconds.

China's Ouyang Kunpeng won the 200 medley in 2:06.65 and South Korean Lee Sun completed a double in the women's medleys, adding the 200 IM to her earlier triumph in the 400 IM.

South Africa's Natalie du Toit took the silver medal in a closely contested women's 800 freestyle behind Shrone Austin of the Seychelles.

Du Toit, who had her left leg amputated below the knee following a motorcycle accident in 2001, was overhauled by Austin down the final stretch.

Zimbabwe qualified for the soccer semifinals after a 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan, while Burkina Faso upset Iran 2-1.

Iran, winner of the 1998 and 2002 Asian Games titles, went behind 2-0 on goals to Diallo Abdoul Moctar in the 45th and Bationo Germaine in the 50th before Hassan Ashjari pulled one back nine minutes from time.

Track and field competition, expected to be the highlight of the Games, was due to start Tuesday.