Water polo: Dramatic final for triumphant China

It was a dramatic struggle to get here. It was a dramatic finale to the campaign. China and Japan splashed up a storm this evening in the water polo final that pitched two, closely matched Asian leaders of the sport against each other.

This was a grudge match. China were shooting for their fifth Asian Games title after victories from 1978 to 1990, and winning two bronze medals in 1998 and 2002 and silver in 1994. The team finished 16th at the Barcelona World Championships, losing by one goal to Japan 10-9.

Veteran player Han Zhidong of China had also spent a night in hospital after the first clash with Japan.

Japan, on the other hand, have not won the title since 1970, when they won their fourth straight crown. They had great hopes for this final, after beating four-time champions Kazakhstan 10-9 in a semifinal penalty shootout thriller.

It started out perfectly for Japan. An unsettled Chinese team conceded three goals in the first period without reply, Japan's leading scorer Kan Aoyagi causing havoc in the Chinese ranks. In the second period, China finally managed to rack up some goals, scoring three for Japan's two, thanks in part to the amazing scores from Li Bin.

In their stride now, China stormed through the third period to finally draw level. Then, in the first two minutes of the last period, China inched ahead from a penalty. Despite relentless attacking from the Japanese, they were unable to penetrate the Chinese defence, and the last quarter ran out not so much with a splash, as with a splutter.

After the game, a relieved Yu Lijun of China described how they came back from the brink, "It was hard being down 3-0 to such a strong team. All we knew was that we had three quarters left to come back and we did. We played until the very end. We had to stay strong and quick. We knew they would try anything to get kick-outs and goals. We didn't start the game how we wanted, but you can tell we finished it right."

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006