HANGZHOU (AFP) – Hosts China finished top of the Asian Games medals table with a record 201 golds, as Taiwan’s Gu Shiau-shuang won the final event in Hangzhou yesterday.

Gu triumphed in the women’s karate – 50 kilogrammes kumite class, beating Kazakhstan’s Moldir Zhangbyrbay in the gold medal match by “Hantei” after a tight battle finished 5-5.

Earlier, Japan beat Macau to take the men’s team kata gold as the final karate competitions brought the curtain down on more than two weeks of action by 12,000 athletes in 40 sports.

China, who surpassed the 199 gold medals they won at the Guangzhou Games in 2010, also won 111 silvers and 71 bronze for a grand haul of 383 medals.

The hosts finished well clear of Japan on 52 golds and South Korea, on 42, in the final medals table.

The first gold medal of the Games was won by China on the rowing lake on a drizzly Sunday morning two weeks ago.

Their 201st came in the pool in the final artistic swimming event, the team free routine.

“We had a lot of expectations for these Games and really hoped to do well,” said victorious artistic swimmer Feng Yu.

“But we are not that satisfied with some of the performances today, so everyone is still a little bit nervous. We are very happy to get the qualification to the Paris Olympic Games.”

ABU DHABI (AP) – Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid each scored 14 points, and the Minnesota Timberwolves topped the Dallas Mavericks 104-96 yesterday to complete a two game sweep of the NBA Abu Dhabi Games.

Anthony Edwards, who missed the first game on Friday with an ankle issue, scored 13 for Minnesota.

Luka Doncic had 18 points, six assists and five rebounds in 19 minutes for Dallas, which was without Kyrie Irving (left groin), Seth Curry (illness) and Markieff Morris (left ankle).

Jaden Hardy led the Mavericks with 22 points and eight rebounds in a game where the majority of starters didn’t appear in the second half.

The Mavericks now head to Spain where they’ll play Real Madrid – Doncic’s former team – on Wednesday.

Doncic signed with Real Madrid when he was 13 and went on to become the youngest EuroLeague and EuroLeague Final Four MVP when he led the club to that title as a 19-year-old in 2018.

Minnesota doesn’t play again until October 14 at New York.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Kuminga had 24 points and Moses Moody had 15 as Golden State beat Los Angeles, which was without LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

James said earlier this week that he would probably play in only half of the Lakers’ six preseason contests, while Reaves is being rested following his appearance with Team USA at this summer’s FIBA World Cup.

With the Warriors limiting the playing time of stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, Kuminga shot eight for 14 from the field and four of five from the line, and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Thompson had 10 points and Curry had eight in limited first-half action. Veteran Chris Paul, making his Golden State debut after he was acquired in the offseason from Washington, had six points. Draymond Green hurt his ankle this week and did not play.

Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Max Christie had 15 points each to lead the Lakers, but Davis and Russell played only limited first-half minutes.

It was the first meeting of the teams since the Lakers ousted the Warriors in the second round of last season’s playoffs.

The Lakers take on the Brooklyn Nets in Las Vegas tomorrow. The Warriors play on Saturday against the Lakers again in Los Angeles.

SAN ANTONIO (AFP) – More than 13,000 spectators flocked to the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Saturday to watch Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs play an intra-squad training game in preparation for the NBA season.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve played in front of so many people,” Wembanyama, the 19 year-old French prodigy who was taken number one on the NBA draft by the Spurs.

“Of course, it’s even more valuable when it comes from the fan base of the franchise I’ve been following since I was a kid,” added Wembanyama, a player regarded as a generational talent who says his aim in his first NBA season is to make the playoffs.

In a low-intensity mini-game lasting four 10-minute periods between San Antonio players, Wembanyama scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds, drawing cheers from the 13,200 in attendance.

The Spurs open the season against the Dallas Mavericks on October 25.

They kick off pre-season matches tomorrow against the Thunder in Oklahoma City.

While Wembanyama is focused on his own preparations for the season, he was asked on Saturday about Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid’s announcement that he had pledged to play for the United States at the Paris Olympics next year.

Embiid, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, was also eligible to play internationally for Cameroon or France.

Wembanyama said he was “sad for Cameroon” but otherwise had no opinion.

“If I’m selected, I’ll go and fight with other Frenchmen to win a title,” he said.

CLEVELAND (AP) – Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star centre Jarrett Allen could miss the start of the regular season with a bone bruise in his left ankle that will keep him out at least two weeks.

The Cavs said yesterday in a release that Allen was hurt this week during one of their first training camp practices. However, coach JB Bickerstaff indicated the centre has been dealing with an issue for a while. “It’s just one of those things over time,” Bickerstaff said following practice. “Not something that happened in practice and was triggered by something. It was something that had been building.”

The six-foot-11 Allen underwent an MRI on Friday and has started a treatment and rehab programme.

Allen, who averaged 14.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks last season, will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Based on the team’s timeline, Allen will miss the club’s three exhibition games and his status for the October 26 season opener at Brooklyn is unclear.

Bickerstaff said is “hope” is that Allen will be ready for the Nets. Cleveland’s first home game is October 28 against Oklahoma City.

“I can’t give you an honest answer on that because it’s a bone and everybody is different as far as how long those things take,” Bickerstaff said. “You can’t control everybody’s bone. But we wanted to do it now because we thought this was the best time.

“Give him as much time to rest and see how it heals and do all the things we can to help a speedy recovery and go from there.”

Allen has averaged 14.5 points and 10.1 rebounds in three seasons for Cleveland. The affable 25-year-old was acquired in 2021 from the Nets in a three-team trade.

Allen anchors Cleveland’s defence and his loss creates a major void inside. The Cavs addressed their need for frontline depth in the offseason by acquiring centre Damian Jones – a move that went under the radar – and re-signing free agent Tristan Thompson, who spent nine seasons with Cleveland and was on the club’s 2016 NBA title squad.

Bickerstaff noted the Cavs have versatile players who will allow him to use a variety of lineups.

PARIS (AFP) – Andy Farrell said for “little old Ireland” to be in “the same bracket” as their Rugby World Cup quarter-final opponents New Zealand shows how far the Irish have come as a rugby nation.

Farrell was speaking after his side showed why they are ranked number one in the world as they crushed Scotland 36-14 in their final Pool B match at the Stade de France yesterday.

It sets up a rematch with the All Blacks, the three-time World Cup winners who thrashed Ireland at the same stage in 2019. Ireland though recorded a historic series win in New Zealand last year.

Farrell will be bidding to take the Six Nations Grand Slam champions to new territory in reaching the last four of a World Cup for the first time. The All Blacks, though, have begun to show some scintillating form in the pool matches despite an opening defeat to hosts France.

“New Zealand are a fantastic side,” said the 48-year-old Englishman. “But for little old Ireland to be talked about in the same bracket shows how far we have come as a rugby nation.

“Our respect for them is through the roof, their form is top drawer at the moment.

“They will be relishing this fixture to try and put a few things right.”

Farrell – who after an initially rocky patch has taken the Irish to new heights since he stepped up from assistant coach after the 2019 World Cup – said his team were battle-hardened after two tough pool matches.

“The All Blacks is as tough as tough as it gets,” said Farrell.

MANCHESTER (AFP) – Erik ten Hag said Scott McTominay’s stoppage time double to ease Manchester United’s crisis by beating Brentford 2-1 has to be a turning point in a troubled season.

United looked set to slump to a seventh defeat in 10 games after Mathias Jensen opened the scoring with the aid of some more poor goalkeeping by Andre Onana.

A third home defeat in eight days would have ratcheted up the pressure on Ten Hag, but he found an unlikely hero in McTominay.

The midfielder was only introduced on 87 minutes by Ten Hag, but reproduced his fine goalscoring form for Scotland of late for his club at just the right moment.

“This has to be the turning point, the reset, in our approach, our attitudes, as a team and as individuals,” said Ten Hag, who substituted stars Casemiro and Marcus Rashford in the second-half.