Charles Koech en route to his Asian junior 5000m title (© organisers)
Charles Koech secured a golden double for Qatar while the Chinese squad toppe with the medal tables with a tally of 14 gold, 16 silver and 5 bronze medals at the Asian Junior championships which concluded at Madya Stadium in the Indonesian capital on Sunday (15 Jun).
Koech, winner of 1500m with a personal best 3:48.46 on Saturday, collected his second gold in the 5000m. However, his performance on the final day was well below his PB of 13:24.26. The Qatari emigrant however expressed confidence in the medal hunt in the upcoming World junior championships at Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Jinthara Seangdee was another athlete winning a second gold medal completing a sprint double. She easily won the 200m (24.10) to add to her 100m gold which she won earlier. Tassporn Wannakit made it 1-2 for Thailand.
Chinese long jumpers Sha Bao and Li Yan-Mei showed splendid display on the long jump arena with excellent performances. Sha Bao took the title in 6.32 ahead of Yan-Mei (6.28m).
The Indian camp had something to cheer at last as their high jumper Lakshmanan Yogaraj had won the event from China's Chen Cheng on count-back. Both cleared an identical height of 2.14m.
Torrential rain played spoil sport as many of the athletes could not reproduce their bests over the weekend. However, the championship threw an opportunity for many young athletes to test their talent against each other and made themselves ready for the bigger show at Bydgoszcz in July.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Leading Results:
JUNIOR MEN -
200m (0.7):
1. Omar Salfa UAE 21.04; 2. Xiang Huang CHN 21.26; 3. Adel Asseri KSA 21.38;
800m:
1. Musaab Bala QAT 1:52.45; 2. Amir Moradi IRI 1:52.62; 3. Janaka Weerasinghe SRI 1:53.53;
5000m:
1. Charles Koech QAT 14:29.55; 2. Ryuji Kashiwabara JPN 14:52.05; 3. Jin-Hyuk Jung KOR 15:00.39;
400m Hurdles:
1. Tomoharu Kino JPN 50.76; 2. Lee Seung-Yun KOR 50.95; 3. Jassem Al-Mas KUW 52.16;
High Jump:
1. L. Yogaraj IND 2.14; 2. Chen Cheng CHN 2.14; 3. Manato Anoda JPN 2.11;
Discus Throw:
1. Mostaan Motamed IRI 58.69; 2. Hamed Manor SYR 56.36; 3. Wei Huang CHN 55.31;
4x100m Relay:
1. Japan 40.22; 2. Thailand 40.31; 3. Hong Kong 41.17;
4x400m Relay:
1. Thailand 3:10.86; 2. India 3:12.94; 3. Saudi Arabia 3:15.65;
JUNIOR WOMEN
200m (1.4):
1. Jinthara Seangdee THA 24.10; 2. Tassporn Wannakit THA 24.43; 3. Liu Ting-ting CHN 24.64;
800m:
1. Tong Xiao-Mei CHN 2:06.64; 2. Tintu Luka IND 2:08.63; 3. S.R. Bindu IND 2:11.13;
5000m:
1. Xiao Fan Hao CHN 17:08.84; 2. Kasumi Nithihara JPN 17:17:11.14; 3. Akiko Matsuyamo JPN 17:20.11;
400m Hurdles:
1. Ghufran Al-Mouhamad SYR 57.85; 2. Xiao Qing Deng CHN 58.76; 3. Taissa Makhmayeva KAZ 59.30;
Long Jump:
1. Sha Bao CHN 6.32/0.8; 2. Li Yan-Mei CHN 6.28/0.7; 3. Chan-Mi Bae KOR 6.10/0.8;
4x100m Relay:
1. Thailand 45.95; 2. China 45.98; 3. Chinese Taipei 47.05;
4x400m Relay:
1. China 3:39.67; 2. Kazakhstan 3:42.20; 3. India 3:42.47
