Logo - Asian Indoor Games (© loc)
The Crown Prince of Thailand H.R.H. Maha Vajiralongkorn opened the 1st Asian Indoor Games at Hua Mak indoor stadium, Bangkok, Thailand with over 2000 athletes from 37 nations competing for 121 sets of medals in 9 different sporting disciplines.
Five golds for Kazakhstan
The first day of the track and field competition (13 -15 Nov) was completely dominated by athletes for Kazakhstan, who won five out of eight finals held on Sunday (13 Nov).
Roman Valiyev opened the medal hunt by winning the men’s Long Jump in 7.84m. Kuwait’s Saleh Alhadad (7.52) and China’s Li Runrun (7.50) came second and third respectively, while Indian jumper Mahan Singh was fourth with a leap of 7.49m.
Another Kazhak, Pilipenko Artyom vaulted 5.30m for the gold in men’s Pole Vault. Zhong Chen (China, 5.10) and Mohammed Rabbani (Iran, 5.00) were in the next two spots.
Sergey Zassimovich took the men’s High Jump with a leap of 2.17m. Hu Tong of China cleared 2.15m, as did Thailand’s Torlard Sudjunta, but the former won the silver on count-back.
The only field event on the programme yesterday for the women was the Triple Jump, which went in favour of Kazakh’s Olessyh Belyayeva with 13.60m. The hosts had some cheer with Wacharee Rittiwat and Thitima Muanjan via 13.11 and 12.95 performances which claimed the silver and bronze medals.
Only two competitors entered the women’s Pentathlon. Kazakh Olga Rypakova won the fifth gold for her nation scoring 4245 points against thai Watcharaporn Masim’s 4182.
India opened its account too
The Indian camp had something to cheer too, when O.P. Jaisha won the women’s 3000m in 9:38.43. South Korean Seong-Eun Kim (9:40.22) initially gave some fight to the Indian but settled for the silver, while North Korea’s Lin Suk An (9:51.72) got the bronze medal.
Earlier India’s Ghamanda Ram, Pinki Paramanik and S. Shanthi had won their respective heats in the women's 800m, to advance to the final. Pinki, by finishing second in her 400m heat behind Kazakh Tatyana Roslanova has also gained selection for the final of that event too. However the other Indian entrant in the 400m event, Mandeep Kaur, finished fifth in heats and thus was eliminated.
Tang and Sanrat take the dashes
There was an electrifying moment when Thailand’s Nongnuch Sanrat (7.46) and Sangwan Jaksunin (7.49) finished 1-2 in the women’s 60m finals, which resulted in a festive atmosphere both in and outside the stadium as Thai fans celebrated their feat. Zhu Juanhong of China (7.80) was third.
Yik Chun Tang of Hong Kong China halted another Thai, Wanchara Sondee’s dream to take victory in the men’s 60m sprint, bettering him 6.80 to 6.83 seconds. Oman’s Al-Jabri Juma Mubarak took bronze with 6.87.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
