China claimed its 990th gold medal in Asian Games history by winning the men's basketball final against host Qatar on Friday.

The Asian sporting superpower is set to break the 1,000 mark when the southern Chinese city Guangzhou hosts the 2010 Asian Games.

A few Chinese newspapers mistakenly reported on Thursday that China had already surpassed the 1,000-mark after collecting 17 golds on the penultimate day of the Doha Games, inadvertently missing the fact China lost a dozen gold medals to doping offenses in the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994.

Hiroshima organizers announced after the end of the Asian Games that 11 Chinese athletes including seven swimmers had tested positive during the Games and 12 golds were taken away from China's previous gold collection of 137.

China has topped the medal standings of the Asian Games since 1982 and its gap with the rest of Asia is enlarging.

China made an Asian Games debut in Tehran, Iran, finishing third overall with 32 golds, after Japan and host Iran. It moved up to second place in 1978 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Japan's 30-year-long dominance of the Asian Games was ended in New Delhi in 1982, when China clinched the top position with 61 golds, four more over second-placed Japan.

The 1986 Asian Games was the most closely contested in history as China beat South Korea 94-93 on the last athletics gold.

When Beijing hosted the 1990 Games, China swept 183 golds as South Korea and Japan totaled only 92 golds.

China pocketed 129 golds in 1998 and 150 in 2002.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2006)