Mighty China looks certain to extend reign<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): China's mean gold mining machine sped into top
\ngear yesterday to assure itself of the overall title at the 11th
\nAsian Track and Field Championships here.<\/p>\n
With just nine gold medals on offer on the closing day today,
\nnobody has a chance of catching up to China's bountiful medal
\nbonanza of 16 golds, four silvers and three bronzes.<\/p>\n
Qatar led the rest of Asia's challenge with three golds, two
\nsilvers and three bronzes, to take a distant second on the
\npenultimate day of the championships.<\/p>\n
Yesterday China reaped six golds after temporarily faltering
\nin its fierce charge on Friday. Bahrain, Sri Lanka and Qatar took
\nthe four other top honors.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, tuning up for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games in
\nChiang Mai, Thailand, took some consolation when Tri Asih
\nHandayani gave her team its second silver in a lopsided 10,000m
\nrace against world record holder Wang Junxia of China.<\/p>\n
Yet, Qatar's Ibrahim Ismail and Sri Lanka's Susanthika
\nJayasinghe shined most by breaking old records en route to golden
\nruns.<\/p>\n
Ismail retained his title in the men's 400m, clocking 44.96 to
\nshave 0.59 off the record he set in the previous meet in Manila
\ntwo years ago.<\/p>\n
Susanthika Jayasinghe ran her best of 23.00 in the women's
\n200m dash, a 24-second improvement of the old mark set by China's
\nChen Zhaojing in Manila two years ago.<\/p>\n
It was sweet revenge for the 19-year-old Sri Lankan girl who
\nwas placed second by Chinese Cui Danfeng in the women's 100m dash
\nby a mere one hundredth of a second in a hairbreadth defeat on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
\"I am in my top form today. I just ran out of steam in the
\nfinal 30 meters when I fell in the 100m,\" the clerical assistant
\nfor the John Keel foodstuffs producer said. \"As a matter of fact,
\nI worried about the 200m instead of 100m,\" she added.<\/p>\n
Jayasinghe won the silver in Asian Games 200m race last year.<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka struck a double when Shriyani Kulawansa, shrugged
\noff her illness to win the women's 100m hurdles in 13.29, still
\nbelow her best of 13.25 set in the Bob Hasan Invitational meet
\nlast year. She was hospitalized three days ago for a throat
\ninfection.<\/p>\n
Bahrain's first gold was presented by 18-year-old Matter Aziz
\nin the men's 200m dash after clocking his best of 20.76
\nyesterday. \"We came here just to participate. His win is indeed a
\nbig surprise for us,\" said his coach Hamada Ahmed.<\/p>\n
China's six golds came from Ma Wei's 58.44m in the men's
\ndiscus throw, Bi Zhong's 70.30m in the men's hammer throw, Zhang
\nHengyun's 52.06sec in the women's 400m dash, Ren Ruiping's 13.99m
\nin the women's triple jump, Sui Xinmei's 18.87m in the women's
\nshot put and Wang's 15min 25.65sec in the women's 5,000m.<\/p>\n
Wang, who became the Chinese word for gold in this meet, and a
\npack of poorly showing opponents, virtually repeated Thursday's
\nshow in the women's 10,000m.<\/p>\n
She outran her closest rival, home runner Tri Asih, by about
\none lap. The two runners were separated by 1:14. In the 10,000m
\non Thursday Wang eased past Tri Asih by about one-and-a-half
\nlaps.<\/p>\n
Apart from the difference, everything was more or less the
\nsame. Wang, who is used to 23 Celcius at home, said she struggled
\nto beat Jakarta's heat, which made her feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\"I didn't expect to break any record in this championship. My
\ntarget here was just winning gold medals,\" the former student of
\na track and field school in Liaoning said. (arf)<\/p>\n
Medals tally<\/p>\n
G S B Total
\n 1. China 16 11 4 31
\n 2. Qatar 3 2 3 8
\n 3. South Korea 2 4 0 6
\n 4. Kazakhstan 2 2 4 8
\n 5. Sri Lanka 2 1 1 4
\n 6. Saudi Arabia 2 0 0 2
\n 7. Japan 1 4 5 10
\n 8. Chinese Taipei 1 1 1 3
\n 9. Turkmenistan 1 1 0 2
\n 10. India 1 0 4 5
\n 11. Bahrain 1 0 0 1
\n 12. Uzbekistan 0 3 3 6
\n 13. Indonesia 0 2 0 2
\n 14. Thailand 0 1 0 1
\n 15. Malaysia 0 0 3 3
\n 16. Iraq 0 0 2 2
\n 17. Iran 0 0 1 1
\n 18. Philippines 0 0 1 1<\/p>\n
Today's program<\/p>\n
08.00 decathlon (110m hurdles)
\n 08.45 decathlon (discus throw)
\n 10.15 pole vault
\n 15.00 women's triple jump
\n 15.00 decathlon (javelin throw)
\n 15.00 women's high jump
\n 15.30 women's 4X400m relay
\n 15.45 men's 4X400m relay
\n 16.10 women's 1,500m
\n 16.30 men's 1,500m
\n 16.50 decathlon (1,500m)
\n 17.10 women's 4X100m relay
\n 17.30 men's 4X100m relay
\n 17.45 closing ceremony<\/p>",
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