Finals for Eain Yow, Sivasangari, history for Danish on memorable Day 7 [WATCH]

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Ng Eain Yow and S. Sivasangari moved within one win of retaining their Asian Games titles, while teenager Danish Iftikhar Roslee created athletics history on Day Seven of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Eain Yow and Sivasangari both navigated tricky semi-finals at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena to reach the men's and women's finals, putting them on the brink of defending their Hangzhou 2022 gold medals and earning early qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Sivasangari defeated Hong Kong's Chan Sin Yuk 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 in a repeat of the previous Games' final.

After falling behind 5-1 in the second game, the world No. 5 rallied to control the match and set up a gold medal clash against India's Anahat Singh.

Top seed Eain Yow overcame a strong start from Pakistan's Noor Zaman to post an 11-7, 11-2, 11-4 victory and advance to the final.

However, Malaysia's run in the mixed doubles ended after C. Ameeshenraj-Rachel Arnold suffered an 11-10, 11-7 semi-final loss to Hong Kong pair Toby Tse-Lai Cheuk Nam.

In athletics, 19-year-old Danish Iftikhar Roslee reached the men's 200m final, becoming Malaysia's first finalist in the event at the Asian Games in 44 years.

Danish clocked 20.76s to finish fourth in his semi-final, qualifying as one of the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers and replicating the feat last achieved by Rabuan Pit, who won bronze at the 1982 New Delhi edition.

However, Haziq Akhir missed out on the 200m final after finishing eighth in his semi-final in 21.50, while Armin Zahryl Abd Latif was eliminated in the men's 110m hurdles heats after finishing fourth in 13.92.

Jonah Chang finished seventh in the men's shot put final with a throw of 18.89m.

At the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, 20-year-olds Nurqayyum Nazmi Nazim and Yong Rui Jie secured bronze in the men's 3m springboard synchro with a six-dive score of 345.81 points.

Pandelela Rinong-Nur Eilisha Rania Abrar Raj, meanwhile, missed out on a podium finish after ending up fourth in the women's 10m platform synchro final.

In badminton, Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani and Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah reached the quarter-finals at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium.

Sze Fei-Izzuddin produced a solid performance to beat Japan's Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi 21-19, 21-16 and set up a last-eight clash against Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang of China.

Pearly-Thinaah took 29 minutes to brush aside Thailand's Napapakorn Tungkasatan-Hathaithip Mijad 21-8, 21-12, moving within one match of guaranteeing at least a bronze medal.

They will face India's Treesa Jolly-Gayathri Gopichand next.

However, men's doubles scratch pair Aaron Chia-Tee Kai Wun were eliminated after losing 21-19, 21-16 to South Korea's Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae in the last 16.

Men's singles players Leong Jun Hao and Justin Hoh were also eliminated.

Over at Karogi Athletics Park, the national cricket team qualified for the quarter-finals after topping Group B when their final group tie against Oman was abandoned because of rain.

Malaysia finished with three points following Thursday's eight-wicket victory over Hong Kong and will face Bangladesh on Tuesday.

In shooting, reigning SEA Games champion Gan Chen Jie became the first Malaysian shooter to reach an Asian Games 50m rifle 3 positions final at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery, before finishing eighth with 299.1 points.

Chen Jie, alongside Alia Husna Budruddin (583) and Nur Suryani Taibi (576), also guided Malaysia to a seventh-place finish in the team event with a combined total of 1,746, emerging as the top Southeast Asian team ahead of Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Meanwhile, China surpassed 100 gold medals to stay ahead in the standings by raking in 107 golds on Saturday.

In men's hockey, the Speedy Tigers stunned Pakistan 5-4 in Gifu to virtually sealed their semi-final spot.

The Asian powerhouse lead the medal race with 107 golds, 41 silvers and 28 bronze medals, while hosts Japan trail behind with 31-49-49 and South Korea retain third place with 16-21-36.

Uzbekistan (8-17-9), Kazakhstan (8-8-19), Thailand (8-7-9), Iran (7-14-7), Bahrain (7-2-2), North Korea (5-5-4) and India (4-12-14) complete the top 10 nations.

Malaysia are in 12th position with four golds, one silver and seven bronze medals after adding two more bronzes on Saturday.