Sat, 23 Sep 1995

Youngsters shine after hard time in Asian meet

JAKARTA (JP): Gold was so alluring to Chinese Taipei's Hsu Peichin that she collapsed and vomited just after winning the 400m low hurdles race on the third day of the 11th Asian Track and Field Championship at the Senayan Madya stadium yesterday.

The 22-year-old clocked 56.99 to get across the finish line first, leaving Thailand's Reawadee Watanasin and Kazakhstan's Natalia Torchina in second and third place respectively.

Hsu's time was 85 seconds slower than the championship record of 56.14 set by India's P.T. Usha in New Delhi in 1989. It also failed to come close to her best time of 55.75 which won her the silver medal at last year's Asian Games in Hiroshima, at which she also fell down upon reaching the finish line.

But for her the gold medal is everything, because it ended Chinese Taipei's six-year gold medal drought at the previous three Asian championships.

"I'm very proud and happy to have contributed the first gold medal to my country in this championship," said the economics student, soon after her physician declared she was all right.

Hsu knew she had to fight it out to win the gold medal because she raced against a very strong opponent from Kazakhstan, Torchi na, who finished eighth in the world track and field championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Keeping his promise to his mother motivated Qatar's Mobarak Al-Nubi to grab the gold medal in the men's 400m hurdles. He clocked 50.17 to give his country its second gold in the championships.

"I promised my mom I would bring her a gold medal from here. I did it," the 17-year-old, who recorded his best time of 50.05 at the Gulf track and field championship in Cairo in April.

Al-Nubi beat Japan's Hideaki Kawamura who was timed at 50.45 to win the silver medal and fellow Qatari Ali Ismail who ran 50.73.

Svetlana Kazanina of Kazakhstan took the full advantage of the absence of world heptathlon champion Gada Shouaa. Kazanina collected a total of 5,728 points to win in her first outing.

Kazanina was of course happy, as her interpreter put it, especially after her poor performance in Gothenburg where she finished 24th. In the recently concluded Student Games in Fukuo ka, Japan, the fourth semester student of the Alma Alta Physical Culture Institute climbed to fourth with 5,910.

The 23-year-old national champion, who recorded her best of 6,092 points in the Best Sportsman Kosanov track and field meet in Kazakhstan's capital city Alma Alta in May, said that she struggled with the heat during yesterday's race.

Another hard thing was the reward she usually receives from her government after winning, a handshake.

Hard times befell Indonesian long-distance runner Eduardus Nabunome who finished 11th in the men's 5,000m run yesterday and quit running after the eighth lap in the men's 10,000m on Thursday.

Yet, the 28-year-old father, who has not attended the coun try's track and field centralized training program since the Singapore Southeast Asian Games in 1993, consoled himself by shrugging-off his poor performance.

"Those in the program also performed poorly, not just me," the 1992 Asia marathon champion said. (arf)

Results

Women's

10,000m walk 1. Feng Haixa (Chn) 45:58.76 (new meet record) 2. Wang Liping (Chn) 46:19.83 3. Yuka Kamioka (Jpn) 46:36.39 ... 5. Hasiati Lawole (Ina) 54:01.39

400m hurdles 1. Hsu Pei-Chin (Tpe) 56.99 2. Reawadee Watanasin (Tha) 57.98 3. Natalia Torchina (Kaz) 58.88 ... 8. Vera Igouge (Ina) 1:06.33

Javelin throw 1. Li Lei (Chn) 60.48m 2. Lee Young-sum (Kor) 58.68 3. Ha Xiaoyan (Chn) 55.80 ... 8. Tati Ratnaningsih (Ina) 45.48

Long jump 1. Elene Pershina (Kzk) 6.50m 2. Yao Weili (Chn) 6.47 3. Elma Muros (Phi) 6.37 ... 13. Ni Nyoman Rae (Ina) 5.92

Heptathlon women (total scores) 1. Svetlana Kazanina (Kaz) 5,728 2. Liu Bo (Chn) 5,516 3. Rumiko Ubukata (Jpn) 5,395

Men's

400m hurdles 1. Mobarak Al-Nubi (Qat) 50.17 2. Hideaki Kawamura (Jpn) 50.45 3. Ali Ismail (Qat) 50.73

High jump 1. Lee Jin-taek (Kor) 2.32m (new meet record) 2. Xu Yang (Chn) 2.26 3. Lou Kum Zee (Mal) 2.19

5,000m 1. Saad A. Mozazae (Ksa) 14:01.43 2. Maly Sopyev (Tur) 14:02.97 3. Xia Fengyuan (Chn) 14:07.99 ... 11. Eduard Nabunome (Ina) 15:00.24

Medals tally

G S B Total China 10 5 3 18 South Korea 2 3 0 5 Qatar 2 2 3 7 Kazakhstan 2 2 2 6 Saudi Arabia 2 0 0 2 Japan 1 3 4 8 Chinese Taipei 1 1 0 2 Turkmenistan 1 1 0 2 India 1 0 3 4 Uzbekistan 0 2 1 3 Indonesia 0 1 0 1 Sri Lanka 0 1 0 1 Thailand 0 1 0 1 Malaysia 0 0 3 3 Iran 0 0 1 1 Iraq 0 0 1 1 Philippines 0 0 1 1

Today's program

Finals program on the fourth day of the 11th Asian Track and Field Championships here (all in West Indonesian Time):

08.20 decathlon (100m) 08.30 hammer throw 09.00 decathlon (long jump) 10.00 decathlon (shot put) 15.30 women's 100m hurdles 15.30 men's triple jump 15.30 decathlon (high jump) 15.30 men's discus throw 15.40 women's 400m 15.55 men's 400m 16.00 women's shot put 16.15 women's 200m 16.30 men's 200m 16.50 decathlon (400m) 17.00 women's 5,000m