Chinese, Japanese relay teams shine at track and fields meet
Chinese, Japanese relay teams shine at track and fields meet
JAKARTA (JP): Taking control from the gun shot the Chinese
women's and the Japanese men's 4x400 relay teams yesterday
wrested the gold medals in the prestigious races at the
5th Asian junior track and field championship.
China's speed was unrivaled as second runner Wang Xuemei
passed the baton to third runner Zhong Li while their rivals were
on the heels of their team-mates.
From then on, China ran to grab the gold medal by clocking
3:42.30, followed by Thailand 1.08 seconds later and India 0.38
seconds after Thailand.
Indonesia's team managed to take only fifth place by clocking
3:53.00. Indonesia would have beaten Taiwan, who took fourth
place in 3:46.20 if third order Rita Mathilda of Jakarta had not
slipped and almost fallen when catching the baton from fourth
order Raquel of East Java.
When asked what happened upon receiving the baton, Rita told
The Jakarta Post, "I don't know. I felt my foot suddenly
stumbling over my other foot."
Rita said that this team was formed for the first time just to
compete in this championship. "We were never grouped together
before," added second order Karlarena Gomes of Maluku.
In the men's 4x400m relay, the Japanese team easily outdid
their opponents. Shimaki Tsunemichi apparently asserted all his
strength in the determining seconds when he sprinted ahead and
left behind all his challengers at their wake. He was assured the
gold medal by clocking 3:11.22.
The silver medalists, the Indian team, clocked 3:12.42 when it
ran past the Qatari team, which clocked 3:13.92. The Qatari team,
though comprised of towering, long-legged youths, failed to grab
even the second title due to their lagging stamina. Some of them
showed apparent exhaustion after finishing their rounds.
Indonesian athletes's in the women's events finished poorly as
they only managed to get the fourth or sixth positions yesterday.
Indonesia's Marion Pakage, who hails from Irian Jaya, took the
fourth place with 3.926 points in the women's heptathlon which
was also concluded yesterday.
The gold medal went to Taiwanese Lin Chao Hsiu who collected
5.283 points, the silver went to China's Xhang Jungling who
accumulated 5.131 points and the bronze was won by Geidelbakh
Anna of Kazakhstan who gathered 4.621 points.
In the women's 3,000m, Chinese Wang Chunmei grabbed the gold
with a time of 9:33.78 secs. The silver and the bronze went to
Japanese Okamoto Yumiko who clocked 9:35.10 secs and Morigaki
Atsuko with a time of 9:35.40 sec.
China's Feng Jie was the only athlete who managed to jump over
six meters to win the gold. Jumping in an assisted wind of 1.0
she lept 6.32m, 39cm farther than Kim Soo-yeon of South Korea who
took the silver. Japanese Miyamoto Sakiko won the bronze by
jumping 5.90m.
No championship records were broken yesterday. China, with 11
gold medals, topped the medal's tally. (arf)
Medal's tally:
G S B
China 11 3 3
Japan 7 7 4
Qatar 4 2 4
India 1 6 2
Thailand 1 2 -
Taipei 1 1 3
Sri Lanka 1 1 -
Korea - 3 4
Kazakhstan - 2 2
Uzbekhistan - - 1
Yaman - - 1
Indonesia - - 1