Huang Qiuyan of China triple jumping at the East Asian Games in Macau (© Peh Siong San)
The first day of the track and field competition at the East Asian Games here provided some close, exciting encounters but few top class performances. Maybe the dearth of inter-nation rivalry might account for the lack of quality times and distances. Performances at Macau Stadium were overwhelmingly dominated by Chinese athletes who won all the finals, except for the men's 10,000m, in which they did not field an athlete.
Huang Qiuyan and Zhang Wenxiu provide world class
Statistically the two best performances of the day in world terms came in the women’s Triple Jump and the women's Hammer Throw.
Huang Qiuyan of China won the Triple Jump with a distance of 14.08m, while her compatriot Xie Limei (13.65m) took the silver. The 25-year-old winner who was a finalist at the World Championships in Helsinki, where she took ninth place, is the Asian record holder (14.72m – 2001) and had a season’s best of 14.58m and currently stands 17th in the IAAF World Ranking for the event.
Zhang Wenxiu, 19, the World Junior record holder was the other star of proceedings producing a 72.23m opener in the women's Hammer Throw, a series which dominated the competition and which she closed out with a 70.88m release for good measure. Wenxiu currently stands sixth in the IAAF World Ranking for her event. Someway back behind the teenager, who was fifth in the World Championships in Helsinki this summer, was her compatriot Liu Yinghui with a best of 69.20m with Japan’s Yuka Murofushi, even more distant in bronze with 63.67m.
In the other field event finals, Li Meiju had got the Chinese medal tally off to a fine start when she won the women's Shot Put with a first effort of 18.12m. The winning distance may have been modest but the win was certainly convincing. Japan's Yoko Toyonaga took silver with a personal best of 16.89m while Li’s team mate Liu Yingfan won the bronze with 16.50m. China achieved a 1-2 finish in the women's High Jump with Jing Xuezhu and runner-up Zheng Xingjuan clearing 1.85m, and won the men’s Discus Throw with a 61.74m release from 22-year-old national champion Wu Tao.
Slow but closely fought 10,000m finals
On the track, in the absence of China’s Olympic champion Xing Huina, who is entered only for the 5000m event at these Games, her compatriot Bao Guiying took the women's 10,000m gold in 32:35.07, just ahead of Japan's Hiromi Ominami (32:36.62). The bronze went to Paek Hyang Ok of DPR Korea who clocked 34:53.06. Considering that Bao had run 31:27.35 for her bronze at the recent National Games in China, when finishing behind Xing (31:00.73) and silver medallist Zhou Chunxiu (31:09.03), the times here were disappointing.
However, in the men’s 10,000m while the times were even slower relative to international standards, painfully slow in fact, the final result was well appreciated by the spectators because it ended the Chinese domination and also set up a spectacular sprint finish. It was Japan's Yuki Nakamura who won the gold medal in 31:59.69. Just 0.03 seconds behind was South Korea's Lee Du Haeng, while Macau's Iao Kuan Un collected the bronze in 34:55.56. Nakamura, 24, has a personal best of 28:12.37 (2004) but did not feel too good physically before the race, and so opted for a slow race and prepared himself for a sprint finish. Even so, he could not have planned for a closer race as Lee just refused to give in.
Sprinters with long term ambitions
In the battle for the "fastest man" tag in Macau, there were many who thought that Japan with its tradition of sprinters could outshine China in the men’s 100m. In the end, however, Hu Kai, popularly dubbed China's "Flying Spectacles Man", proved too strong for his challengers as he took the 100m title in 10.40. The reigning World University Games champion from Tsinghua University beat Japan's Shingo Kawabata (10.54) and Chinese Taipei's Wang Shihwen (10.63), who were second and third respectively.
Hu, 23, who recently won the 100m silver medal (10.31) behind Gong Wei (10.24) at China's National Games in Nanjing, was not too worried about his "rather average time" in Macau. He had come to win and had done that.
“Up next for me, hopefully, are the Asian Games in Doha next year and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They are the meets that everyone wants to really do well in,” confirmed Hu. He is certainly a face to look out for - unless he chooses to focus more on his studies. Given his academic ability, the choice of "sports or studies" may be a difficult one for this economics and management student.
In the women's 100m dash, China also dominated, with Qin Wangping winning in 11.65, ahead of compatriot Shu Yan (11.76) and Japan's Ayumi Suzuki (11.95). Qin, who is from Jiangsu, made news recently by becoming the only triple event winner at the National Games, where she won the 100m 200m and was a member of the victorious 4x100m relay team. Like the men's 100m winner Hu, she too wasn't too disturbed with her time which was much slower than the 11.34 secs she did in Nanjing.
Chua Chong Jin and Chris Turner for the IAAF
RESULTS
Men
100m
1 Hu Kai 10.40 (CHN)
2 Shingo Kawabat 10.54 (JPN)
3 Wang Shihwen 10.63 (TPE)
10,000m
1 Yuki Nakamura 31:59.69 (JPN)
2 Lee Duhaeng 31:59.72(KOR)
3 Iao Kuanun 34:5.56 (MAC)
Discus Throw
1 Wu Tao (CHN) 61.74m
2 Tulake Nuermaimaiti (CHN) 59.27m.
Women
100m
1 Qin Wangping (CHN) 11.65
2 Shu Yan (CHN) 11.76
3 Ayumi Suzuki (JPN) 11.95
10,000 m
1 Bao Guiying (CHN) 32:35.07
2 Hiromi Ominami (JPN) 32:36.62
3 Paek Hyang Ok (DPR Korea) 34:53.06.
Shot Put
1 Li Meiju (CHN) 18.12 m
2 Yoko Toyonaga (JPN) 16.89m
3 Liu Yingfan (CHN) 16.50m
High Jump
1 Jing Xuezhu (CHN) 1.85m
2 Zheng Xingjuan (CHN) 1.85m
Triple Jump
1 Huang Qiuyan (CHN) 14.08m
2 Xie Limei (CHN) 13.65m
3 Kim Suyoun (KOR) 13.36m
Hammer Throw
1 Zhang Wenxiu (CHN) 72.23
2 Liu Yinghui (CHN) 69.20
3 Yuka Murofushi (JPN) 63.67
