Rashid Ramzi defeats Saif Saeed Shaheen in the 1500m at the Asian Championships (© IAAF Correspondent)
On the second of three days of competition at the inaugural Asian Indoor Athletic Championships in the Iranian capital of Tehran, the Chinese were unstoppable in the women’s finals, while Bahrain’s Asian and Arab outdoor 1500m champion Rashid Ramzi won a close fought men’s 800m.
The championships which are being contested by teams from 24 nations in Tehran’s Piroozi Hall, witnessed a gold medal sweep by China in the five women’s finals which were contested on Saturday (7 Feb).
26 year-old Xu Bei improved her indoor personal best to 6.30m (previous 6.26m; outdoors 6.61m) to win the Long Jump, while Zhang Na produced an indoor personal best of 4.20m to take the Pole Vault.
Yet of all the Chinese victories it was 17 year-old Xie Rong’s 23.91 win in the 200m which was the class of the day. Second was Bahrain’s Roqaya Al Ghasara who had taken the silver in the 60m on the first day.
The best men’s competition of the second day was the men’s 800m with saw three men under 1:49, and was won by Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi (1:48.03, national indoor record). Bahrain also took the men’s 3000m thanks to Salem Mucheru (8:11.90).
IAAF
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Selected Results – 7 February
Women
200m
1 Xie Rong, China 23.91
2 Roqaya Al Ghasara, Bahrain 24.18
1500m
1 Xie Sainan, China 4:29.43
60mh
1 Xu Jia, China 8.34
Pole Vault
1 Zhang Na, China 4.20
2 Roslinda Samsu, Malaysia 4.00
Long Jump
1 Xu Bei, China 6.30
Men
200m
1 Tomoyuki Arai, Japan 21.65
800m
1 Rashid Ramzi, Bahrain 1:48.03
2 Sajjad Moradi, Iran 1:48.48
3 Yusef Kamel Bahrain 1:48.89
3000m
Mucheru Salem, Bahrain 8:11.90
