Sajad Moradi at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka (© Getty Images)
2 June 2010Pune, IndiaThree Asian champions were beaten, but a fourth man who rose to his stature to retain his reputation did so with a new meeting record at the first leg of the three-stop Asian Grand Prix circuit in Pune on Tuesday (01).
On a rainy, windy day, the athletes had to break and then return, upsetting the schedule and their rhythm. One man who performed up to par was Iranian Sajad Moradi. The Asian champion lived up to his rating while winning the men’s 800m in a meet record time of 1:47.70.
The 27-year-old Iranian was pushed hard through the final 30 metres by the gallant Indian, Prakash Verma who clocked a personal best of 1:47.90 while settling for second. Third-placed Pankaj Dimri, another Indian, also had a PB of 1:48.20.
The Asian champions to be beaten were Zhang Peimeng of China (100m), Roman Valiyev of Kazakhstan (Triple Jump ) and Om Prakash Singh of India (Shot Put).
The 20-year-old Sri Lankan, Shehan Abeypitiyage, coming back to the venue where he had won the Commonwealth Youth Games title two years ago, registered a major victory at the Asian level by winning the short dash in a tough field. The Sri Lankan won in a photo-finish with Oman’s Babakat Ali Harti, both being credited with 10.47.
Zhang Peimeng, the pre-race favourite, who was eighth in the Shanghai Diamond League meet in late May, came home here in 10.51, just a hundredth of a second ahead of Indian Abdul Najeeb Qureshi.
Roman Valiyev was far from his best in the Triple Jump, where Indian record holder Renjith Maheswary, who is in tremendous form this season, pulled off a fifth-round jump of 16.84m to tower over the rest. Chinese Wu Bo (16.53m) and Indian Amarjeet Singh (16.35m) took the other podium spots with Valiyev coming fourth with only 16.31m. He had won the Asian title in Guangzhou last November with a 16.70m effort while Maheswary had finished out of the podium there.
Om Prakash Singh’s ambitions of retaining his Asian supremacy were dashed by Chinese Zhang Jun who came up with a last-round throw of 19.71me. Zhang Jun, bronze winner in Guangzhou, has had a good season so far, with a 19.83m in Suzhou in April and a 19.81m in the Grand Prix in Osaka last month (silver) preceding his effort here.
Om Prakash, who came off his training base at the John Godina World Throws Centre, Arizona, US, to compete here, managed a season best 19.58m but still found himself well short of the Chinese. The Indian had won the Asian title with a 19.87m and had been in good form of late.
Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ming-Huang, second in Guangzhou last year, just a rung above Zhang Jun, came third here with 18.74m, a season best for him, but not in keeping with his position in the continent.
The Chinese, who did not field a strong team this year, still managed to take home four gold medals. Zhang Jun apart, success came through Ji Wei (men’s 110m Hurdles), Su Xiongfeng (Long Jump) and Liu Xiangrong (women’s Shot Put).
Svetlana Radzivil scaled 1.91m while outclassing the women’s High Jump field and in the process added 16 centimetres to her season best achieved only four days earlier, in Taipei. The 23-year-old Uzbek has a best of 1.93m. Anna Ustinova of Kazakhstan coming third at only 1.80m behind Thai Wanida Boonwan (1.88m) was a surprise.
There was no stopping Guzel Khubbieva in the women’s 100m. The 34-year-old Uzbek won her seventh Asian GP title in a row, clocking 11.70. Papua New Guinea’s Toea Wisil took second in 11.76 while the home team’s H. M. Jyothi won the bronze. Incidentally, it was for the first time that the Asian GP series had been thrown open to non-Asian athletes.
The whole of India would have wished Tintu Luka to win the women’s 800m title, but the 21-year-old Kerala girl, who leads the Asian lists for the season (2:01.61) was beaten over the final ten metres by Kazakhstan’s Margarita Matsko. The Kazakh’s fourth 800m title in a row in Asian GP came in 2:02.85 with Luka clocking 2:03.14 for the silver and another Indian, Sushma Devi, 2:03.69 for the bronze.
The next two legs will be held in Bangalore (June 5) and Chennai (June 9).
By an IAAF Correspondent
Leading results -
Men:
100m: Shehan Abeypitiyage (Sri) 10.47, 2. Babakat Al Harti (Omn) 10.47, 3. Zhang Peimeng (Chn) 10.49.
400m: S.K. Mortaja (Ind) 47.64, 2. J. Premanand (Ind) 48.12, 3. Nelson Stone (PNG) 48.15.
800m: Sajad Moradi (Iri) 1:47.70, 2. Prakash Verma (Ind) 1:47.90, 3. Pankaj Dhimri (Ind) 1:48.20.
110m Hurdles: Ji Wei (Chn) 13.83, 2. Fawzi Al Shammari (Kuw) 13.67, 3. Jamras Riddidet (Tha) 13.68.
High Jump: Lee Hup Wei (Mas) 2:15, 2. Wang Chen (Chn) 2.15, 3. Vitaly Tsykunov (Kaz) 2.10.
Long Jump: Su Xiongfeng (Chn) 7.94, 2. Supanara Sukhasvastia (Ina) 7.75, 3. Yu Zhengwei (Chn) 7.72.
Triple jump: Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 16.84, 2. Wu Bo (Chn) 16.53, 3. Amarjeet Singh (Ind) 16.35.
Shot put: Zhang Jun (Chn) 19.71m, 2. Om Prakash Singh (Ind) 19.58, 3. Chang Ming-Huang (Tpe) 18.74 .
Women:
100m: Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.70, 2. Toea Wisil (Papua New Guinea) 11.76, 3. H.M. Jyothi (Ind) 11.79.
400m: Chandrika Rasnayaka (SL) 54.27, 2. Salome Dell (PNG) 55.90, 3. Treewadee Yongphan (Tha) 56.21.
800m: Margarita Matsko (Kzk) 2:02.85, 2. Tintu Luka (Ind) 2:03.14, 3. Sushma Devi (Ind) 2:03.69.
100m hurdles: Anastasiya Suprunova (Kaz) 13.36, 2. Dedeh Erawati (Ina) 13.64, 3. Shenna Atilano (Php) 14.03.
High jump: Svetlana Radzivil (Uzb) 1.91, 2. Wanida Boonwan (Tha) 1.88, 3. Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.80.
Triple jump: Alexandra Kotlyarova (Uzb) 13.82, 2. Thilima Muangjan (Tha) 13.76, 3. Liu Yanan (Chn) 13.73.
Shot put: Liu Xiangrong (Chn) 18.43, 2. Chia Ying Lin (Tpe) 15.87, Zhang Guirong (Sin) 14.63.
Discus: Krishna Poonia (Ind) 59.51, 2. Seema Antil (Ind) 59.51, 3. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 57.75.
Click here for full results
On a rainy, windy day, the athletes had to break and then return, upsetting the schedule and their rhythm. One man who performed up to par was Iranian Sajad Moradi. The Asian champion lived up to his rating while winning the men’s 800m in a meet record time of 1:47.70.
The 27-year-old Iranian was pushed hard through the final 30 metres by the gallant Indian, Prakash Verma who clocked a personal best of 1:47.90 while settling for second. Third-placed Pankaj Dimri, another Indian, also had a PB of 1:48.20.
The Asian champions to be beaten were Zhang Peimeng of China (100m), Roman Valiyev of Kazakhstan (Triple Jump ) and Om Prakash Singh of India (Shot Put).
The 20-year-old Sri Lankan, Shehan Abeypitiyage, coming back to the venue where he had won the Commonwealth Youth Games title two years ago, registered a major victory at the Asian level by winning the short dash in a tough field. The Sri Lankan won in a photo-finish with Oman’s Babakat Ali Harti, both being credited with 10.47.
Zhang Peimeng, the pre-race favourite, who was eighth in the Shanghai Diamond League meet in late May, came home here in 10.51, just a hundredth of a second ahead of Indian Abdul Najeeb Qureshi.
Roman Valiyev was far from his best in the Triple Jump, where Indian record holder Renjith Maheswary, who is in tremendous form this season, pulled off a fifth-round jump of 16.84m to tower over the rest. Chinese Wu Bo (16.53m) and Indian Amarjeet Singh (16.35m) took the other podium spots with Valiyev coming fourth with only 16.31m. He had won the Asian title in Guangzhou last November with a 16.70m effort while Maheswary had finished out of the podium there.
Om Prakash Singh’s ambitions of retaining his Asian supremacy were dashed by Chinese Zhang Jun who came up with a last-round throw of 19.71me. Zhang Jun, bronze winner in Guangzhou, has had a good season so far, with a 19.83m in Suzhou in April and a 19.81m in the Grand Prix in Osaka last month (silver) preceding his effort here.
Om Prakash, who came off his training base at the John Godina World Throws Centre, Arizona, US, to compete here, managed a season best 19.58m but still found himself well short of the Chinese. The Indian had won the Asian title with a 19.87m and had been in good form of late.
Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ming-Huang, second in Guangzhou last year, just a rung above Zhang Jun, came third here with 18.74m, a season best for him, but not in keeping with his position in the continent.
The Chinese, who did not field a strong team this year, still managed to take home four gold medals. Zhang Jun apart, success came through Ji Wei (men’s 110m Hurdles), Su Xiongfeng (Long Jump) and Liu Xiangrong (women’s Shot Put).
Svetlana Radzivil scaled 1.91m while outclassing the women’s High Jump field and in the process added 16 centimetres to her season best achieved only four days earlier, in Taipei. The 23-year-old Uzbek has a best of 1.93m. Anna Ustinova of Kazakhstan coming third at only 1.80m behind Thai Wanida Boonwan (1.88m) was a surprise.
There was no stopping Guzel Khubbieva in the women’s 100m. The 34-year-old Uzbek won her seventh Asian GP title in a row, clocking 11.70. Papua New Guinea’s Toea Wisil took second in 11.76 while the home team’s H. M. Jyothi won the bronze. Incidentally, it was for the first time that the Asian GP series had been thrown open to non-Asian athletes.
The whole of India would have wished Tintu Luka to win the women’s 800m title, but the 21-year-old Kerala girl, who leads the Asian lists for the season (2:01.61) was beaten over the final ten metres by Kazakhstan’s Margarita Matsko. The Kazakh’s fourth 800m title in a row in Asian GP came in 2:02.85 with Luka clocking 2:03.14 for the silver and another Indian, Sushma Devi, 2:03.69 for the bronze.
The next two legs will be held in Bangalore (June 5) and Chennai (June 9).
By an IAAF Correspondent
Leading results -
Men:
100m: Shehan Abeypitiyage (Sri) 10.47, 2. Babakat Al Harti (Omn) 10.47, 3. Zhang Peimeng (Chn) 10.49.
400m: S.K. Mortaja (Ind) 47.64, 2. J. Premanand (Ind) 48.12, 3. Nelson Stone (PNG) 48.15.
800m: Sajad Moradi (Iri) 1:47.70, 2. Prakash Verma (Ind) 1:47.90, 3. Pankaj Dhimri (Ind) 1:48.20.
110m Hurdles: Ji Wei (Chn) 13.83, 2. Fawzi Al Shammari (Kuw) 13.67, 3. Jamras Riddidet (Tha) 13.68.
High Jump: Lee Hup Wei (Mas) 2:15, 2. Wang Chen (Chn) 2.15, 3. Vitaly Tsykunov (Kaz) 2.10.
Long Jump: Su Xiongfeng (Chn) 7.94, 2. Supanara Sukhasvastia (Ina) 7.75, 3. Yu Zhengwei (Chn) 7.72.
Triple jump: Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 16.84, 2. Wu Bo (Chn) 16.53, 3. Amarjeet Singh (Ind) 16.35.
Shot put: Zhang Jun (Chn) 19.71m, 2. Om Prakash Singh (Ind) 19.58, 3. Chang Ming-Huang (Tpe) 18.74 .
Women:
100m: Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.70, 2. Toea Wisil (Papua New Guinea) 11.76, 3. H.M. Jyothi (Ind) 11.79.
400m: Chandrika Rasnayaka (SL) 54.27, 2. Salome Dell (PNG) 55.90, 3. Treewadee Yongphan (Tha) 56.21.
800m: Margarita Matsko (Kzk) 2:02.85, 2. Tintu Luka (Ind) 2:03.14, 3. Sushma Devi (Ind) 2:03.69.
100m hurdles: Anastasiya Suprunova (Kaz) 13.36, 2. Dedeh Erawati (Ina) 13.64, 3. Shenna Atilano (Php) 14.03.
High jump: Svetlana Radzivil (Uzb) 1.91, 2. Wanida Boonwan (Tha) 1.88, 3. Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.80.
Triple jump: Alexandra Kotlyarova (Uzb) 13.82, 2. Thilima Muangjan (Tha) 13.76, 3. Liu Yanan (Chn) 13.73.
Shot put: Liu Xiangrong (Chn) 18.43, 2. Chia Ying Lin (Tpe) 15.87, Zhang Guirong (Sin) 14.63.
Discus: Krishna Poonia (Ind) 59.51, 2. Seema Antil (Ind) 59.51, 3. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 57.75.
Click here for full results
