GUANGZHOU: Chinese sprinter Lao Yi stormed to victory in the men's 100 meters at the Asian Games on Monday, recovering from a slow start to win China's first ever gold in the event in a photo finish.

In front of an ecstatic crowd in Guangzhou, Lao was slow out of the blocks and had ground to make up on Saudi Arabia's Yasir Al-Nashri and Oman's Barakat Al-Harthi.

But he settled into his rhythm in the second half of the race to win in 10.24sec, dipping in front of silver medalist Al-Nashri on the line to take gold by just 0.02sec. Al-Harthi took bronze in 10.28.

Qatar's Nigerian-born Femi Ogunode won the men's 400m in a personal best of 45.12 seconds.

Japan's Yuzo Kanemaru won silver (45.32sec), with Saudi Arabia's Yousef Masrahi taking bronze (45.71).

"I didn't lead at first, but I began to speed up during the latter part of the race," Lao said.

The 25-year-old said he was buoyed by the reaction of the partisan home crowd at Aoti Main Stadium, but said his time was "not ideal" and he wanted to break the national record.

Referring to his recent good form, Lao said he had suffered a series of injuries in recent years but was now fit and his training regime had left him in good shape.

"My next target is to compete well at next year's world championships," said Lao, who has a personal best of 10.21.

Defending champion Yahya Habeeb of Saudi Arabia, who reached the final as one of the fastest finishers, finished in fifth place in a time of 10.35.

Qatar's Nigerian-born Asian record holder Samuel Francis, the favorite for the event, was earlier disqualified from the semifinals.

Francis fell to the floor, clutching his head, as he was red-carded for leaving the blocks before starter's orders.

"I just can't accept it. It's unbelievable," said Francis, who has a personal best time of 9.99.

Francis's coach Valentyn Bondarenko of Ukraine said: "He was ready. Never in training. He was ready, really ready. I told him to focus to make the final.

"He runs good 200s and he is well prepared but this disqualification may affect him."

In the women's 100m final, Japan's Chizato Fukushima timed 11.33sec, edging out Uzbekistan veteran Guzel Khubbieva, the defending champion, on the line by just 0.01sec. Vietnam's Vu Thi Huong took bronze in 11.43.

Fukushima said she was "happy today because I have achieved my aim," targeting a record in the women's 4x100m relay.

Liu Xiang qualified first for the 110-meter hurdles final as the former world record holder asserted his form before a home audience two years after a shock withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics.

Olympic bronze medalist Zhang Wenxiu defended her women's hammer throw title with a toss of 72.84 meters and Yang Yansheng prevailed in the men's pole vault by clearing 5.5 meters.

The focal point of the night was Liu, the 27-year-old hurdler who became a Chinese track superstar after clinching gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The former world record holder is trying to rehabilitate his form and reputation after disappointing a nation by pulling out of the heats at the 2008 Beijing Games with a right foot injury.

Local fans who flocked to the 80,000-seat Aoti Main Stadium cheered loudly when Liu was introduced - although the arena was just half-full, with many seats in the upper stands empty. The announcer showered him with superlatives like "China's hero" and "the king." After easily winning his heat and qualifying first by clocking 13.48 seconds, Liu stuck out his tongue and wagged his finger at the camera.

Liu's main rival for gold, China teammate Shi Dongpeng, placed second in the second heat, qualifying fourth overall with a time of 13.89 seconds behind Saudi Arabia's Ahmed Khader A. Al-Muwallad (13.69) and South Korea's Park Tae-kyong (13.68).

Meanwhile, world champion Yusuf Saad Kamel criticized his own country, claiming he was forced to compete, while a South Korean coach accused officials of bias against his cyclist in a contentious start to the second week at the Asian Games.

The Kenya-born Kamel failed to qualify for the 1,500-meter final Monday, then criticized Bahrain team officials by saying they'd ignored his complaints about an injured right knee and insisted he run in Guangzhou. He finished ninth in the second of two heats, ranking 13th in qualifying.

"I told my team officials but they didn't listen to me," the 27-year-old Kamel, who has had long-running issues with Bahrain's athletics officials, said of the injury. "They pushed me to come here and that's why I'm here.

"I'm not upset about my failure, but about their pushing me to run." Earlier in the day, Kamel posted a time 23 seconds slower than his winning run of 3 minutes, 35.93 seconds at the World Championships in Berlin last year. He also collected bronze in the 800 at the World Championships, and is listed to run that event in Guangzhou. He doesn't want to run that, either.

India claimed its sixth gold when Sanam Krishan Singh and Somdev Devvarman combined to beat a Chinese pair 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-8 in the men's tennis doubles. Sania Mirza and Vishnu Vardhan lost the mixed doubles in three sets to the Taiwanese pair of Chan Yung-han and Yang Tsung-hua.

Meanwhile, China's all-conquering divers hit the water with Shi Tingmao and Wang Han taking gold in the women's 3m synchronized springboard and Yang Liguang and Zhou Luxin winning the men's 10m synchronized platform.

Despite winning, Shi wasn't entirely happy.

"We need to work more and I hope we can do better in future events," she said.

On the football field, Japan upset defending champions North Korea 1-0 in the women's football final, gaining revenge for losing to them in the decider four years ago in Doha.

South Korea beat China 2-0 in the bronze medal match.

Elsewhere, China's cricket dreams were shattered with a 128-run thrashing by Pakistan, with captain Khalid Latif smashing the first century of the tournament.

He finished unbeaten on 103 as Pakistan made 183-1 off their 20 overs. China could only manage 55-9 in reply.