IAAF Article:
The final day of the 5th Asian Indoor Athletics
Championships witnessed a record being bettered in every other event,
but Qatari youngster Mutaz Barshim take the sheen away from others with
his high octane 2.37m world Lead in the High Jump on Sunday (19).
In
fact Barshim was leading the six title defenders from last edition of
the championships, which was held two years ago in Teheran, to Hangzhou,
China. Having here with a 2.33m area record set in Spala, Poland, just
a week ago, Barshim was already the leading name at the two-day meet.
The 20-year-old’s mark in Poland bettered the the previous continental
mar, set by Chin's Zhu Jianhua 26 years ago, by two centimetres.
Although
he could have easily won here with a lower height, the Qatari, the 2010
World junior champion and winner at the quadrangular Asian Games in
Guangzhou that same year, wanted to prove that he would not take
anything for granted.
Today when he
cleared 2.37m, adding four centimetres to his newly acquired area
record, the entire arena responded with a standing ovation. With that
jump Barshim snatched the season’s world lead from Russian Andrey
Silnov, who hitherto led the list with his 2.36m at Moscow since 5
February. With today’s win Barshim is expected to ignite further
fireworks at next month's World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
Li Ling vaults to 4.50 Area record
Revealing
their champion status, the hosts took the top spot in half of the 14
finals contested on Sunday to stand tall in the medal tally. China also
had a pair of medal sweeps, in men’s Triple Jump and Shot Put. In both
the events their bronze medals were decided by just 1one centimetere.
However it was the women who ruled the roost for the land of dragons
today.
Hailing from Zhejiang province, to
which Hangzhou is the regional capital, pole vaulter Li Ling saw the
home support as an added asset. It clearly reflected in her splendid
show as she vaulted 4.50m for the gold. Ling replaced her country-mate
Zhang Yingning’s old record 4.46m set in Shanghai five years ago from
the books. Incidentally she won the last Asian Indoor Games title in
Hanoi with a 4.45m effort and was consistent at that height since 2008.
Like Barshim, the Chinese vaulter also a medal contender in Istanbul.
Dong Bin defends Triple Jump title
Triple
jumper Dong Bin was lucky to defend his title after landed on the pit
in an identical distance of 17.01m with teammate Cao Shuo. Shuo cleared
the 17-metre earlier this month, after a gap of three years, at the
National Grand Prix in Nanjing. Li Yanxi took the bronze in 16.23m,
just a shade away from Kazakh jumper Roman Valiyev’s 16.22m fourth
place.
Shot putter Zhang Jun, who recorded
an indoor area best of 20.16m in the Nanjing National Grand Prix,
tossed the iron ball to a new meet distance of 19.78m. The former World
University Games silver medallist received a challenge from teammate
Wang Guangfu, who ultimately landed in silver position at 19.40m while
Wang Like completed the Chinese sweep by pushing Gholoum Ahmad of Kuwait
19.09m to 19.08m for the bronze medal.
Lyudmila
Grankovskaya of Khazakhstan, the only woman gold medallist of last
edition to entered this year, finished third in the Triple Jump. China
were 1-2 in this event with World and Olympic finalist Xie Limei taking
the top place with a modest 14.06m. However Kuwaiti runner Mohammad
Al-Azimi successfully defended his title in the men’s 800m with a
championship record of 1:47.37.
Bahraini
distance runners continue to dominate in both the divisions. Proving his
supremacy, the Daegu Worlds 5000m finalist Shugi Bilisuma capped the
3000m gold with a meet mark 7:43.88 in what was apparently his maiden
indoor appearance. In a similar act, his teammate and another Daegu
finalist, Shitaye Eshete, did the same in the women’s race with a time
of 8:49.27.
In the sprints, Iranian Reza
Ghasemi dashed to 60m gold in 6.68. His teammate Hassan Heidarpour, who
clocked an impressive 6.59 in the semi-finals yesterday, finished third
at 6.78. Local star Wei Yongli posted a season’s best 7.37 to win the
women’s 60m contest. Kazakh sprinter Viktoriya Zyabkina, who set a meet
record of 7.33 in the semis, had to settle with a bronze clocking 7.44
today.
The men’s relay was not contested due to insufficient entries.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
Leading Results:
MEN 60m: 1. Reza Ghasemi IRI 6.68, 2. Lai Chun Ho HKG 6.78, 3. Hassan Heidarpour IRI 6.78 800m: 1. Mohammad Al-Azimi KUW 1:47.37 (CR), 2. Adnan Al-Mntfage IRQ 1:49.42, 3. Yang Xiaofei CHN 1:50.32 3000m: 1. Shugi Gelasa Bilisuma BRN 7:43.88 (CR), 2. Mohamad Al-Garni QAT 7:46.17, 3. Gebre Alemu Bekele BRN 7:48.04 High Jump: 1. Mutaz Essa Barshim QAT 2.37 (WL, AR and CR), 2. Zhang Guowei CHN 2.28, 3. Ghazal Majd Eddin SYN 2.24 Triple Jump: 1. Dong Bin CHN 17.01 (CR), 2. Cao Shuo CHN 17.01, 3. Li Yanxi CHN 16.23 Shot Put: 1. Zhang Jun CHN 19.78 (CR), 2. Wang Guangfu CHN 19.40, 3. Wang Like CHN 19.09 Heptathlon: 1. Dmitriy Karpov KAZ 5928 (CR), 2. Ushiro Keisuke JPN 5590, 3. Tanaka Hiromasa JPN 5033
WOMEN 60m: 1. Wei Yongli CHN 7.37, 2. Tao Yujia CHN 7.40, 3. Viktoriya Zyabkina KAZ 7.44 800m: 1. Zhao Jing CHN 2:04.15, 2. Shumi Regasa Gensebi BRN 2:05.96, 3. Song Tingting CHN 2:11.32 3000m: 1. Shitaye Eshete Habtegebrel BRN 8:49.27 (CR), 2. Belayneh Betlhem UAE 8:53.56, 3. Chalchissa Tejitu Daba BRN 8:53.75 Pole Vault: 1. Li Ling CHN 4.50 (AR and CR), 2. Choi Yun-hee KOR 4.30, 3. Nakada Megumi JPN 4.15 Triple Jump: 1. Xie Limei CHN 14.06, 2. Li Yanmei CHN 13.73, 3. Lyudmila Grankovskaya KAZ 13.22 Pentathlon: 1. Irina Karpova KAZ 4050, 2. Duong Thi Viet Anh VIE 33812, 3. Sepideh Tavakoli IRI 3775 4x400m Relay: 1. China 3:40.34, 2. Kazakhstan 3:44.85, 3. Kryghistan 3:56.11
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