Saudi wins 2nd gold as Chinese fire dims

JAKARTA (JP): Saudi Arabian middle-distance runner Saad Shadad Al-Ashmari Al-Mozazae completed a golden double on the third day of the 11th Asian Track and Field Championships here yesterday.

Al-Ashmari made a brilliant debut in the 5,000-meter race, setting the pace throughout to clock the best time of 14 minutes and 1.43 seconds. His second victory, in addition to his 3,000m steeplechase win on the opening day of the meet, helped his team move up a place to the fifth behind Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan reaped two golds, while Qatar, Chinese Taipei and South Korea took one apiece to hand the all-conquering Chinese their first gold medal drought in the championships.

The Chinese, however, resumed their athletic dominance over the continent with a haul of 10 golds, five silvers and three bronzes after the third day yesterday, thanks to their female athletes. South Korea trailed far behind with two golds and three silvers.

Al-Ashmari led a pack of struggling contenders, including defending champion Bahadur Prasad of India, during the stiffest race of the day. Marly Sopyev of Turkmenistan, the 10,000m gold medalist, closely marked the Saudian, but fell ran out of steam in the final sprint.

Sopyev finished more than one and a half seconds behind Al- Ashmari to take the silver. The bronze went to Xia Fengyuan of China, who ran 14:07.99.

"I'm very very happy. It was my first 5,000m race but I just won it," an elated 28-year-old Saudian said. "I missed only the record due to the heat," he added. Al-Ashmari's time was far off Prasad's two-year-old meet record of 13:41.70.

Al-Ashmari, the world championships' 3,000m steeplechase bronze medalist, said he was hoping to improve his new discipline in the world Grand Prix tournaments next year.

With the championships half over, Chinese 10,000m female walker Feng Haixa and South Korean men's high jumper Lee Jin-taek brought the record-breaking streak to six.

Feng set a new record in a race that saw half of the competitors outclass Chinese Gao Hongmiao's two-year-old meet record of 47:08.98.

China strolled to a gold-silver show, with Feng clocking 45:58.76 to lead her compatriot Wang Liping by 21.07 seconds. Yuka Kamioka of Japan took the bronze. Maiia Sozonova of Kazakhstan joined the record spree but no medal was awarded to the fourth finisher.

Despite the abundance of records, the 10,000m-walk world mark of 42:46.70 set by another Chinese Cui Yingzi in 1992 remains intact.

Li Lei gave China its second gold of the day when she threw 60.48 meters in the javelin.

South Korea's Lee closed the third day with another record- breaking feat when he leapt 2.32 meters to cut the 13-year-old mark set by Zhu Jianhua of China by just one centimeter.

Kazakhstan took two golds through heptathlete Svetlana Kazania and female long jumper Elena Pershina. Qatar dominated the men's 400m hurdles, with Mobarak Al-Nubi winning the gold and teammate Ali Ismail grabbing the silver. (amd)

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