21st Asian Athletics Championships – day 4 – Li Ling improves her Asian mark by vaulted to 4.66m – Adekoya posts World Leading 54.31 secs in 400m Hurdles – By Ram. Murali Krishnan

 

Pole vaulter Li Ling was the cynosure of all eyes as she exhibits enthralling athleticism in front of her home fans on the penultimate day of biennial continental meet on Saturday evening.   A bronze medalist in the World championships at Moscow two years ago, the Zhubo born Li will be celebrating her 26th birthday exactly one month from now.  She started her career about a decade ago and came in to limelight when taking a silver medal at Guangzhou Asiad in 2010.  The next year In Asian championships at Kobe she added another silver.  Thereafter she went on to claim top position at the continental level through Pune Asian championships (2013) and Incheon Asian Games (2014).   Last year also turned out as her memorable season with a win in Continental Cup at Marrakech.

 

In 2013 Li took the continental mark from her country-mate Gao Shuying as she scaled 4.65m at Shenyang.  Today at Wuhan she added another centimeter to it in front of an enthusiastic number of spectators. 

 

Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya was another athlete who delivered outstanding performance in the Asian championships today.  A double gold medalist in last year’s Asian Games at Incheon, the 22-year-old athlete ran a marvelous race to clock a world leading 54.31 secs to notch up the gold in 400m hurdles today.  In that process the Nigerian born Adekoya also improved upon her personal best and national record for her adopted country. 

 

The second placed Kira Manami of Japan was almost 3 seconds behind at 57.14 secs while local girl Xiao Xia timed 57.69 secs for the bronze.

 

Japan’s Yuta Konishi took the men’s race in 49.58 secs.

 

India’s Vikas Gowda successfully defends his title from Pune as he hurled the 2 kg disc to a decent 62.03m.  Asian record-holder Ehsan Hadadi could not find his rhythm and ended up with 'no mark'.  Kuwaiti Eisa Zankawi (61.57) and Iranian Mahmoud Samimi (59.78) were the other medalists of the day.

 

The Indians also received another gold medal today through steeplechaser Lalita Babar as the Incheon bronze medalist improved her personal best and national record to 9:34.13 to achieve this honour.   Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet, who is holding the continental mark in this event, was a non-starter today and that paved the way for the Indian to take the top position.  Ruth had trouble in losing her title to another Indian Sudha Singh after actually winning the last edition at Pune on eligibility grounds.  She is however went on to claim the gold in the Asian Games at Incheon last year under some dramatic circumstances.   

 

 

Bahrain's John Koech ran a classic 8:27.03 to win the gold in men’s race. The above time was only the second best of the season behind his own 8:14.75 clocked at IAAF World Challenge in Beijing last month.  Qatari runner Hashim Salah Mohammed (8:36.02) and another Bahraini Evans Chematot (8:42.76) took the other medals here.

 

Bahrain’s Asian Games winner El Hassan El Abbassi clinched the gold in men’s 10,000m race in 28:50.71.  Indian G Lakshmanan, who earlier won the bronze medal in 5000m on opening day, took the silver (29:42.81) while Uzebkistan's Andrey Petrov the bronze (30:20.68).

 

Korean triple jumper Kim Deok-Hyeon upsets home favourites Cao Shuo to win the gold with a leap of 16.86m. Former Asian champion Roman Valiyev takes the silver in 16.67 while the Chinese jumper was 2 cm behind for the bronze. Another notable jumper from the host team, Dong Bin, could manage only a fifth place in 16.47m.

 

Defending champion Ivan Zaytsev (Uzbekistan) was one down to silver with his 79.09m in javelin throw. Huang Shih-Feng (Chinese Taipei) won the gold by setting out the spear to 79.74m whereas Japan's Marakami Yukifumi the bronze medalist in 79.05m.

 

Femi Ogunode, vie for a sprint double, qualified for tomorrow’s 200m final with a 20.28 secs clocking in the semis today.  Kazakhstan sprinter Viktoriya Zyabkina (23.39) was leading among the women qualifiers.

 

The morning session also witnessed qualifying rounds in 800m.  India’s Incheon silver medalist Tintu Luka, a top draw here for the gold, easily won her heat in 2:06.33 with Sri Lankan Gayanthika Aberathna a close second at 2:06.51.