China prevails at start of Asian track and field meet

JAKARTA (JP): Two meet records were shattered as China stole the show on the opening day of the 11th Asian Track and Field Championships yesterday.

Asian Games javelin champion Zhang Lianbao and countryman Chen Yanhao, the first record breaker of the day, earned defending champion China two gold medals to take the provisional lead in the meet's medal race.

Arab countries, however, served a notice to China's title defense campaign, with Qatari Saad Bilal triumphing in the men's shot put and Saudi Arabia's Saad Shadad Al-Asmari Al-Mozazae taking the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a new mark.

The final gold offered on the day went to Marly Sovyev of Turkmenistan, who finished first in the 10,000m race.

Zhang made a throw of 79.60 meters to win the first gold for his country. The 28-year-old student of the Beijing Sports University failed to beat his best effort of 81.52m, made at the previous meet in Manila.

"My shoulder is a little sore," Zhang said in relation to his unconvincing throw.

Zhang's modest effort, however, was quite enough to best his major rival Victor Zaitcev of Uzbekistan who threw 75.68m for the silver. Zaitcev's compatriot, Sergei Voinov, took the bronze with 73.46m.

Chen, fresh from his World Championships campaign in Gothenburg, Sweden, gave China its second gold with a record- breaking run of 13.65 seconds in the men's 110m hurdle. Chen cut his predecessor Li Tong's two-year-old mark by 0.17sec. But Li's continental record of 13.25 remains.

Another Gothenburg veteran Saad Shadad Al-Asmari Al-Mozazae of Saudi Arabia found no real contenders on his way to a new mark of eight minutes and 24.08 seconds in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

World Championships silver medalist Al-Asmari shaved six seconds off his own meet record, which he set two years ago in Manila. His new mark, however, was more than eight seconds away from the continental record he established in Monte Carlo last year.

Earlier, Saad Bilal opened the Arabs' startling charge with a throw of 18.87 meters in the men's shot put to give Qatar its first gold medal. His sub-par showing left the meet record of 19.04m set by Hao Liu of China in 1993 untouched.

It was Indonesian best runner Mardi Lestari, however, who handed China its biggest upset of the day. Mardi easily won his 100m heat in 10.49, beating the Chinese Asian Games bronze medalist Chen Wenzhong, who clocked 14.63, the slowest time of the race. (amd/arf)

Medals tally

Medals table after the first day of the 11th Asian Track and Field Championships yesterday:

G S B Total China 2 1 0 3 Qatar 1 1 1 3 Saudi Arabia 1 0 0 1 Turkmenistan 1 0 0 1 Uzbekistan 0 1 1 2 Kazakhstan 0 1 0 1 Japan 0 1 0 1 India 0 0 1 1 Iran 0 0 1 1 Malaysia 0 0 1 1

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