China’s Su Bingtian (left) crosses the finish line to win gold followed by Qatar’s Samuel Francis (right) in second and Oman’s Barakat Mubarak Al Harthi (centre) in third during the men’s 100m final on the second day of the five-day Asian Athletics Championship at the Chatrapati Shivaji Stadium in Pune yesterday.
PUNE, India: China’s Su Bingtian and Wei Yongli emerged the fastest runners at the Asian athletics championships in Pune with emphatic wins in yesterday’s 100m finals.
Su retained the men’s title he won two years ago, finishing in 10.17 seconds which was slower than the 10.06 he ran at home in Beijing in May.
But his effort was enough to keep him ahead of Asian record-holder and favourite Samuel Francis of Qatar, who was second in 10.27 seconds.
Barakat Al-Harthi of Oman picked up the bronze with a time of 10.30 seconds.
Su and Francis were the chief contenders for the title after Japan’s teenage sprint sensation Yoshihide Kiryu, who clocked a junior world record equalling time of 10.01 seconds in April, opted to skip the meet.
Wei cruised to victory in the women’s 100m final, finishing the race in 11.29 seconds after a false start had disqualified Komalam Shally of Malaysia.
Chisato Fukushima of Japan was second in 11.53 seconds, while China’s Tao Yujia came in third at 11.63 seconds.
Meanwhile, Yousef Ahmed Masrahi of Saudi Arabia defended his men’s 400m title in 45.08 seconds, with Ali Khamis of Bahrain taking the silver in 45.65 seconds.
Yuzo Kanemaru of Japan, who was expected to provide a tough challenge to Masrahi, finished third in 45.95 seconds.
China’s Zhao Yanmin recorded a personal best timing of 52.49 seconds to win the women’s 400m title.
Gold medallists at the Asian meet are guaranteed a direct entry into next month’s world championships in Moscow.
But the absence of many of the continent’s top athletes, including world number one high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, has robbed the Pune meet of its star value.
The Asian championships ends on Sunday. REUTERS
