MANILA, 24 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia’s Hussain T. A. Al-Saba gave the Kingdom a perfect National Day present by winning the first gold at the 15th Asian Athletics Championships here yesterday.

His golden leap came in the long jump final on the last day of the event.

Al-Saba finished with 8.23 meters to capture the first gold for his country.

Saudi Arabia grabbed four medals including one gold, two silver, and one bronze and finished eighth on the medals standings.

But the day was belonged to Kuwaiti track star Fawzi Al Shammari, who won the men’s 200 meters for his second gold medal while Kazakh Lyubov Perepelova sealed the women’s sprint double.

Sri Lanka’s Damayanthi Darsha, the record holder for both the Asian championships and the Asian Games for the women’s 200m, pulled out with a hamstring injury suffered during training on Monday.

It was a heartbreaking second injury for the Sri Lankans, who were already without the services of Susanthika Jayasinghe, the fastest Asian woman over the distance.

Perepelova, running with distinctive blond corn rows in her hair, took full advantage after winning the 100m sprint on Sunday.

Al Shammari, a flop at the Paris world championships last month, helped himself to a second gold in the men’s 200m in 20.70secs after nailing the 400m crown on Sunday. The Kuwaiti was slow off the blocks, allowing Saudi Arabia’s Hamed Al-Bishi to take a clear lead at the halfway mark.

“Al-Bishi and China’s Yang Yaozu started well, but in the last 15 meters I found I had a little power left,” said Al Shamari, who failed to get past the semifinals in Paris.

Al-Bishi finished second in 20.73 while Yang was third in 20.82.

Perepelova took the women’s 200m gold in 23.11, edging Chen Lisha of China who took the silver in 23.39. A second Uzbek, Guzel Khubbieva, won the bronze in 23.63.

Yin Yin Khine of Myanmar clinched a rare 400- and 800-meter sweep. World steeplechase champion Saif Saed Shaheen of Qatar was overtaken by one of his countrymen in the lung-busting 5,000-meter run .

Shaheen, 21, clocked 13 minutes 58.92 seconds to settle for silver.

Abdulrahman Amri Abdelaziz, 20, who bagged the gold, registered 13:58.89, while Japan’s Nobuyo Matsunaga took the bronze with 14:12.73.

In the decathlon, Uzbekistan’s Sminov Zitealy bested the field with 8,021 points to grab the gold. His countryman Andrey Pavel took the bronze with 7,487 points, while Kazakhstan’s Dubitskiy Pavel took the silver with 7,604 points.

Powerhouse China reaped six more golds on the final day of competition to grab the overall medal standings with a total of 19 golds, 10 silvers and 8 bronze, ahead of second placer Qatar with 6-3-2 (gold-silver-bronze). Uzbekistan, with 5-1-5, was third overall. Chinese hurdler Huang Xiaoxiao set the stadium alight by setting a new meet record to win the women’s 400m hurdles in 55.66secs. Kazakhstan’s Natalya Torshina came second in 55.88 while Wassana Winatho of Thailand was third in 56.40.

Qatar’s Mubarak Sultan Al-Nobi, the meet record holder in the men’s 400m hurdles, easily won in 49.19secs.

Yevgeniy Meleshenko of Kazakhstan won the silver in 49.55, and Chen Tien-Wen of Chinese-Taipei the bronze in 50.72.

Ha Mingming got China going earlier yesterday by setting a new meet record on the way to winning the women’s 20 kilometer walk with a time of 1hour, 31mins 47.0secs.

Compatriot Zou Ying was second in 1:32:07.0, while Malaysian Yuan Yufang placed third in 1:32:25.0.

The third record of the day went to Adam Abdu Adam Ali of Qatar, who took the gold in the 800 in 1:46.20.

China topped the medals standing for the 11th time in its 13 trips to the continental titles. Also yesterday, the Thai quartet reigned in the men’s 4 X 400 meter relay, clocking 44.25 seconds. Japan took the silver with 44.56 seconds and China the bronze with 44.97.

Stressed Montgomery

Ends 2003 With Another Loss

In Yokohama, Japan, American world record holder Tim Montgomery’s dismal season ended in defeat to Obadele Thompson in the 100 meters at the Super Track and Field meeting yesterday.

A pumped-up Thompson, of Barbados, made a flying start holding off Montgomery to win in 10.20 seconds in Yokohama.

Montgomery, who has struggled with his form since setting the world record of 9.78 in Paris last year, was runner-up in 10.32 with Nobuharu Asahara of Japan third in 10.39.

“Having the world record and getting beaten every race is stressful,” said the American, who only managed fifth at the world championships in Paris last month.

The 28-year-old also courted controversy at the start of the year through a brief alliance with disgraced Canadian coach Charlie Francis. Francis was banned for life by his national federation for his role in supplying drugs to Ben Johnson, who tested positive after winning the 100 meters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

“Four coaches in one season...it was always up and down, different philosophies. It hurt so bad this season, running around 10.04 after running 9.78,” said Montgomery. But Montgomery, whose partner — triple Olympic champion Marion Jones — had a baby in June, said he would be back to his best for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

“All I have to do is concentrate on what went wrong this year and fix it for Athens. It’s not hard to fix...I’ll get it right,” he said.

World champion John Capel was beaten into third place in the 200 meters by compatriot Shawn Crawford, who failed to make the US team for Paris. Crawford stormed to victory in a time of 20.19 ahead of Namibia’s four-times Olympic silver medalist Frank Fredericks (20.50) and Capel (20.69).

“It was a terrible shock not making the team (for Paris) in the 100 and the 200,” said Crawford. “But the 200 really broke my heart, knowing I am one of the best 200 meters sprinters in the United States. On a scale of one to 10, this year was a five or a six.”

Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, who has not lost a race in over two years, comfortably won the 400 meters hurdles in 48.86 ahead of American Joey Woody (49.34) in a repeat of their one-two finish in Paris. Kenyan Justus Koech, sixth in Paris, won the 800 meters in 1:49.25, edging out American world indoor champion David Krummenacker by 0.15 seconds.

In the women’s competition, British world silver medalist Kelly Holmes clocked 2:01.46 to win the 800 meters from Slovenian pair Jolanda Ceplak (2:03.21) and Brigita Langerholc (2:03.66).