Two Asian records broken in Jakarta athletic c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): In the absence of the continent's best, two championships records were shattered on Wednesday to lend some relief to the 13th Asian Track and Field Championships.

After three days of competition, a total of three new meet records have been produced, thanks to Sri Lankan runner Damayanti Darsha who won the women's 400 meters and China's Li Hong who snatched victory in the women's 10-kilometer walk on Wednesday.

China climbed to the top of the medals table with six gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals, surpassing India which has collected four golds and seven silvers and two bronzes. Qatar is third with four golds, two silvers.

In her tune-up for the Olympic Games next month, Darsha won her gold medal in 51.05 seconds, shaving 18 hundredth of a second off the old mark set by Yan Jiankui of China in July 1998. KM Beenamol of India finished second after running 51.41 while Chen Yuxiang of China was third in 52.81.

Sri Lankan coach Sunil Gunawardena expressed hope that Darsha would be able to clock 50.50 at the Olympics to enable her to run in the final.

Earlier in the day, China produced a one-two finish in the women's 10km walk, which saw Li Hong and Sun Chunfang beat the old mark by clocking 44:59.90 and 45:42.68 to win the gold and silver respectively. The bronze went to China-born Yuan Yu Fang of Malaysia who clocked 46:12.66.

The old record of 45:58.76 was produced by Feng Haixia of China in September 1995 here.

Jamal al Safar of Saudi Arabia was crowned the continent's fastest man of the year when he dashed his way to the 100m gold medal in 10.32. The mark left Qatar runner Talal Mansoor's 15- year-old record of 10.22 intact.

Anil Kumar of India took the silver in 10.35 while Yin Hanzhao of China was third in 10.36.

As soon as all the 100m sprinters touched the finish line, they stared at each other, wondering who the winner was until it was announced minutes later.

"I'm happy that I could win and also renew my personal best of 10.33. My target here was only to improve my time. This is my first gold medal at the championships," Al Safar said.

He played down the absence of Asian Games champion and the continental record holder Koji Ito of Japan. Ito clocked 10.00 in his Asiad victory.

"It doesn't make any difference with the absence of Koji Ito. I won the race, that's it. When I meet him, I'll beat him," Al Safar said.

In the women's 100m, Lyubov Perepelova of Uzbekistan won the gold after running 11.31 seconds, only 0.03 slower than the meet record set by Cui Danfeng of China in September 1995.

Indians Dey Saraswati and Mistry Rachita were second and third respectively after clocking 11.40 and 11.46.

Ismail Ibrahim of Qatar, ranked 38 in the world, was 0.05 of a second outside the championships record held by Tillakaratnee Sugath of Sri Lanka in his win in the men's 400m. The Qatari only managed 44.66.

In the men's pole vault, not to mention a podium finish, Indonesian Nunung Jayadi even failed to set a new national record as he made an early exit after a futile attempt in his first jump at 4.80.

Nunung wrote the national best of 5.10 at the 15th National Games in Surabaya in June. (yan)

Results

Men's Javelin: 1. Jagdish K. Bishnoi (Ind) 76.81 meters, 2. Chu Ki Young (Kor) 75.27, 3. Sun Shi Peng (Chn) 74.34

Men's Pole vault: 1. Zhang Hongwei (Chn) 5.40 meters, 2. Satoru Yasuda (Jpn) 5.20, 3. Liu Yen Sung (Tpe) 5.10

Men's 110m hurdles: 1. Mubarak Atah (Ksa) 14.02 seconds, 2. Shen Zhenseng (Chn) 14.13, 3. Park Tae-kyung (Kor) 14.16

Men's 100m: 1. Jamal al Safar (Ksa) 10.32 seconds, 2. Anil Kumar (Ind) 10.35, 3. Yin Hanzhao (Chn) 10.36

Men's 400m: 1. Ibrahim Ismail (Qat) 44.66 seconds, 2. Hamdan Al Bhisi (Ksa) 45.32, 3. Xu Zi Zhou (Chn) 45.55

Men's 1,500m: 1. Mohamed Sulaiman (Qat) 3:52.47, 2. Abu Baker Ali Kamal (Qat) 3:52.64, 3. Sun Wenli (Chn) 3:52.94

Women's Javelin: 1. Lee Young-sun (Kor) 55.78 meters, 2. Gurmeet Kaur (Ind) 55.65, 3. Zhang Li (Chn) 55.07

Women's Shotput: 1. Qawar Nada (Jor) 17.46 meters, 2. Chinatsu Mori (Jpn) 16.38, 3. Cho Jin-sook (Kor) 15.38

Women's Long jump: 1. Elena Brobovskay (Kgz) 6.66 meters, 2. Liang Shuyan (Chn) 6.64, 3. Maho Hanaoka (Jpn) 6.61

Women's 100m: 1. Perepelova Lyubov (Uzb) 11.31, 2. Saraswati Dey (Ind) 11.40, 3. Rachita Mistry (Ind) 11.46

Women's 400m: 1. Damayanthi Darsha (Sri) 51.05 seconds, 2. K.M. Beenamol (Ind) 51.41, 3. Chen Yuxiang (Chn) 52.81

Women's 100m hurdles: 1. Su Yiping (Chn) 12.99 seconds, 2. Trecia Roberts (Tha) 13.01, 3. Anuradha Biswal (Ind) 13.40

Women's 10km walk: 1. Hong Li (Chn) 44:59.90, 2. Chunfang Sun (Chn) 45:42.68, 3. Yu Fang Yuan (Mal) 46:12.66

Women's 1,500 meters: 1. Wu Qingdong (Chn) 4:17.82, 2. Zhang Ling (Chn) 4:18.31, 3. Tok Ko Sun Ok (Prk) 4:20.04

Leading medals tally (Gold, Silver, Bronze)

China (6, 7, 9), India (4, 7, 2), Qatar (4, 2, 0), Japan (2, 4, 4), Saudi Arabia (2, 2, 1), Kazakhstan (2, 1, 1), South Korea (1, 1, 3), Kyrgystan (1, 1, 1), Thailand (1, 1, 0), Jordan (1, 0, 0), Indonesia (1, 0, 0), Sri Lanka (1, 0, 0), Uzbekistan (1, 0, 0).