Surprise Asian Games bronze for Vikas Gowda

India’s medal count in last year’s Asian Games will go up by one as discus thrower Vikas Gowda, who finished fourth with a throw of 63.13m, will gain the bronze medal after Qatar’s silver-winner Ahmed Mohamed Dheeb, has tested positive and has been disqualified by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

This will push up the overall Indian medals tally to 65 and that of the Indian athletics team to 12 (five gold, two silver and five bronze medals). India’s sixth position in the standings will remain.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced on Monday that Dheeb and another athlete, Palestinian Awajna Abdalnasser, who took part in the 800m heats, had tested positive for testosterone metabolites and norandrosterone respectively.

The total number of positive tests reported from the Games thus rose to four.

Earlier, two Uzbekistan competitors, a wrestler and a judoka, were disqualified while the Games were on following ?positive’ tests for stimulant methylhexaneamine.

?The results management of these two (latest) cases has been duly completed as per the OCA ant-doping rules,? Mani Jegathesan, Chairman of the OCA Medical Committee said.

He said the athletes were disqualified from their competition and the Games and their results nullified.