News23 Sep 2003


China's day, as Yingie completes distance double - Asian Championships, Day 3

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Gu Yuan winning the women's Hammer at the Asian Champs (© IAAF Correspondent)

Manila, PhilippinesTwo veterans from Kazakhstan, both making some sort of a comeback into the Asian arena, came up with contrasting end-results on this third day of the 15th Asian Athletics Championships, Monday 22 September.
 
Oleg Sakirkin, who holds the Asian Triple Jump record, made just one valid jump, that of 15.62 metres and bowed out of the medal hunt, but Grigoriy Yegorov, who jointly holds the area Pole Vault record, took the gold at 5.40 with a last-ditch effort. For Yegorov it was a repeat of his 1993 triumph at the same Rizal Memorial Stadium. That was the year when the Central Asian Republics joined the Asian athletics family.

With Sakirkin in such poor form and defending champion Salem Mouled Al-Ahmadi of Saudi Arabia  not competing, the Triple Jump contest was an open one. The Japanese Kazuyoshi Ishikawa grabbed his opportunity with a third-round jump of 16.72 metres that stood the challenge from two Chinese, Gu Jinjie and Wu Ju.

Gu Jinjie, just 18, jumped the best series in the entire competition, 16.21, 16.66, pass, 16.48, 16.68, 16.67. The silver was not the true reward for an excellent job done on a worn-out runway. But that is how it had to be. His team-mate, Wu Ju, more experienced than Gu, managed one of 16.67, just a centimetre short of the silver-winning effort.

On the track, on a thinly spread out day's programme, the women's 5000m was the only final. And true to expectations, Sun Yingjie won, to add to the 10,000m she had claimed on the opening day. The 26-year-old Chinese now has the Asian Games distance double plus this one and the bronze in the World Championships 10,000 metres. Having run eight races in less than four weeks, she now has plans to compete in the Beijing marathon next month.

Though there was decent opposition from Japanese Yuko Manabe, unlike the 10,000 metres, where Sun Yingjie had no challenge worth the name, in the eventual analysis the Chinese had to chart her own course and pace in today's event also. For a while, however, it looked as though Manabe might offer the kind of resistance Sun Yingjie had not faced so far in top-level Asian competitions.

Manabe tagged the Chinese along for about seven laps before giving up as Sun Yingjie stepped up the pace. In the end, there was a leeway of around 80 metres as Sun Yingjie finished in 15:48.42, rather ordinary by her standards, but understandable in the prevailing humid conditions and her own over-worked limbs. Manabe clocked 15:59.81 with another Japanese, Hiromi Fujii clinching the bronze at 16:31.18.

Of the six gold medals at stake today, China took four, the other ones coming from woman hammer thrower Gu Yuan, javelin thrower Li Rongxiang and walker Han Yucheng.

Gu Yuan was not at her best today, but no one could come near her 70.78 on her fourth attempt. Underlining the Chinese depth in this event, Liu Yinghui claimed the silver with a 66.66 throw. Japanese Masumi Aya was the bronze winner at 64.04.

Li Rongxiang was also not at his best in the javelin competition. But an opening throw of 79.25m gave him the cushion to relax a little perhaps and that mark remained unchallenged till the end. The better-rated Sergey Voynov of Uzbekistan has to settle for the bronze as Japanese Yukifumi Murakami took the silver with 77.04m.

The heats in the men's 800 metres, showed that the contest on the morrow would be stiff, with two Iranians, Sajjad Moradi and Ehsan Mohasershojare joining Asian Games champion Rashid Mohammed of Bahrain, Uzbek Erkinjon Isakov and Qataris Adam Abdu Adam and Salam Amir Al Badri. Saudi Arabian Mohamed Al-Salhi, who had made a fine impression through the season before fading out at the Arab championships in Amman, was a notable absentee and so was Indian K. M.Binu, winner of the silver medal at the last Asian Games. Binu was reportedly unwell.

With Chinese Qi Haifeng and Kazakhstan's Dmitry Karpov both staying away, the decathlon competition looks tailor-made for Uzbek Vitaly Smirnov to dominate. He was in the lead at the end of the first day with 4115 points, followed by Kazakh Pavel Dubitskiy at 4042. Smirnov had a late disqualification slapped on him for a false start in the 100m last time in Colombo and yet finished sixth with 6710 points. He felt at that time that the official concerned was not clear about the decathlon rules. The time has come for him to make up for that huge disappointment of finishing without a medal after having done so well.

By an IAAF Correspondent

Results (Day 3, finals only) :

Men:
Pole vault: 1. Grigoriy Yegorov (Kaz) 5.40, 2. Satoru Yasuda (Jpn) 5.30, 3. Kim Se-In (Kor) 5.10;
Triple jump: 1. Kazuyoshi Ishikawa (Jpn) 16.72, 2. Gu Junjie (Chn) 16.68, 3. Wu Ji (Chn) 16.67;
Javelin: 1. Li Rongxiang (Chn) 79.25, 2. Yukifumi Murakami (Jpn) 77.04, 3. Sergey Voynov (Uzb) 76.09;
20km walk: 1. Han Yucheng (Chn) 1:21:11.3 (CR),  2. Yuki Yamazaki (Jpn) 1:21:53.3, 3. Bai Liansheng (Chn) 1:22:13.8.
 
Women:
5000m: 1. Sun Yingjie (Chn)  15:48.42, 2. Yuko Manabe (Jpn) 15:59.81, 3. Hiromi Fujii (Jpn) 16:31.18;
Hammer throw: 1. Gu Yuan (Chn) 70.78, 2. Liu Yinghui (Chn) 66.66, 3. Masumi Aya (Jpn) 64.04.
 

 

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