Wang will lead Chinese athletic team<\/p>\n
BEIJING (AFP): Wang Junxia, one-time star of Ma Junren's army
\nof runners, leads a Chinese team of 48 to next week's 11th Asian
\nAthletics Championships in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"We are going to try and prove we are still the best in Asia,\"
\nsaid Chinese Athletics Association president Huang Zhi.<\/p>\n
Without Wang, Qu Yunxia and Liu Dong--who dominated the world
\nchampionships in Stuttgart in 1993--China managed only a silver
\nmedal in last month's championships in Gothenburg through Huang
\nZhihong in the shot.<\/p>\n
But Wang was given a standing ovation when she made a stunning
\nreturn to form in a 10,000-meter race at Changchun in the
\nnational championships last week.<\/p>\n
The world record holder finished in 31min 23.24sec, 19 seconds
\noutside the time that Portugal's Fernando Ribeiro won the world
\ntitle in Gothenburg.<\/p>\n
It was almost two minutes outside her world mark of 29:31.78,
\nbut was still the best performance this year by Wang, the only
\nwoman to have run the distance in under 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Wang had failed to get into China's world championship team
\nafter a torrid six months that saw her form slump after a much
\npublicized split with Ma Junren over his treatment of the
\nrunners.<\/p>\n
Wang said at Changchun she was preparing with other former Ma
\nrunners for Jakarta where she would be defending the 10,000m
\ntitle she won in Manila in 1993 as well as doubling up in the
\n5,000m.<\/p>\n
Clear champion<\/p>\n
China won 23 gold, 11 silver and four bronze medals at the
\n1993 championships to finish well clear of South Korea's haul of
\n10 medals.<\/p>\n
Zeng Lizhi, who triple jumped 17.30m at Changchun, Huang Geng,
\nwho has been jumping regularly over 8 meters, and world indoor
\nchampionship women's triple jump bronze medalist Ren Ruiping are
\nother stars in China's team for Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ma Junren, now building up a new team around Qu Yunxia, the
\n1,500m world record holder, has pledged to challenge for gold in
\nAtlanta but none of his team are going to Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Ma's new runners were expected to clash for the first time
\nwith Wang and his former stars at China's Inter-City Games in
\nNanjing from Oct. 10 to 30.<\/p>\n
Wang led a breakaway from Ma's Army at the end of last year
\naccusing the athletics guru of pocketing the team's earnings and
\ncalling his training methods draconian.<\/p>\n
She failed to make the team for the world championships after
\nsuffering a slump in form but now is ready to step back into the
\nbreach.<\/p>",
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