BUSAN, South Korea, 13 October — Saudi Arabia’s Hussein Al-Saba leapt into the Asiad record books yesterday, smashing the Asian Games best on his way to long jump gold.
Al-Saba flew 8.14 meters on his second jump to beat Li Dalong of China (7.99m) into second. Qatar’s Alwaleed Ibrahim Abdullah took the bronze with a jump of 7.80m.
Al-Saba set a new games record in the men’s long jump, to lift Saudi Arabia up to second equal with India.
“My coach always tells me to go for broke on my first three attempts and that’s what I did,” said Al-Saba. “My main focus now is to work toward gold at the world championships next season.”
China’s Sun Yingjie added the 5,000 meters gold to her 10,000 title at the Asian Games as her fellow Chinese women took top honors in volleyball and South Korea beat India in a thrilling hockey final.
Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi coasted to victory in the men’s 1,500 meters.
Sun powered to victory in a games record of 14 minutes 40.42 seconds, easily breaking the mark of 15:54.45 set by Indonesia’s Supriati Sutono in Bangkok four years ago, to win China’s ninth athletics gold. They later also won gold in the women’s hammer.
Japan’s Kayako Fukushi took the 5,000 silver with a national record of 14:55.19 and India’s Sunita Rani, the 1,500 winner here and 5,000 silver medalist in Bangkok, was third in 15:18.77.
The world record in the 5,000 is held by Sun’s compatriot Jiang Bo, who ran 14:28.09 in Shanghai in 1997.
Sun took an early lead and never looked back, though she repeatedly glanced at her watch as she shook off her pursuers. Her gambit worked to perfection as she separated the field with Fukushi and China’s Xing Huina trying to stay in touch.
There was then a long gap to Rani and Japan’s Yoshiko Ichikawa with the rest of the field even further back. Fukushi was eventually left one her own to chase Sun as Rani passed Xing, who came home fifth behind Ichikawa.
“We all had the same strategy but I knew I was a faster finisher and that was the key today,” said Sun, who added she would now attempt to win triple gold in the women’s marathon today as a replacement for Wei Yanan.
“I feel quite good now. I do still have enough strength to compete in tomorrow’s marathon.” said the 23-year-old.
Bahrain’s Ramzi, who has struggled with a knee injury for three months, confirmed his country’s dominance of the middle distance races as they made it a double gold on the track after Rashid Mohamed’s win in the 800 meters on Wednesday.
Ramzi’s time of three minutes 47.32 seconds was slow and the Games record of 3:40.00 set by Qatar’s Mohamed Suleiman at the Hiroshima games eight years ago was never in danger.
“My focus was purely on the gold medal. If I had run a quick time it would have been a bonus but it was such a comfortable win today that I was never in trouble,” said Ramzi.
Ramzi, a Moroccan who became a citizen of Bahrain only three months ago, ran the perfect tactical race as he bided his time before taking the lead and sprinting home with room to spare.
“I planned to make a break in the last 500 meters but it was so easy that I left it until the last 100 meters. It’s a shame it wasn’t a more competitive race,” added Ramzi, who will travel to France next week for knee surgery.
China’s Dou Zhaobo and Li Huiquan took silver and bronze as they put on a last-gasp surge to get past Abdulrahman Suleiman, gold medalist at the Asian championships in Colombo in August.
Abdulrahman’s older brother Mohamed, Olympic bronze medalist in Barcelona in 1992, ruled the 1,500 in Asia for a decade with victories in three Asian Games from 1990 before retiring.
China’s Li Rongxiang lived up to his billing as favorite to win the men’s javelin with his second throw of 82.21 meters, although his four other legal throws would also have won gold. Li was the bronze medalist at the Bangkok Games.
Japan’s Yukifumi Murakami picked up the silver (78.77) and Uzbekistan’s Sergey Voynov, the gold medalist four years ago, had to settle for bronze this time (78.74).
China’s Gu Yuan easily won the women’s hammer competition, which was making its Asian Games debut, with a throw of 70.49 meters despite a slight injury to her left leg.
Gu’s compatriot Liu Yinghui (66.73) took the silver and Japan’s Masumi Aya (62.18) picked up the bronze.
Gu, who became the first Asian woman to break the 70 barrier when she set an Asian record of 71.10 meters in Colombo, was expected to take gold and obliged with her fourth throw.
The Chinese, who won the World Cup in Madrid in September, would have won with her third (67.13) or fifth (69.38) throws.
Japan’s former javelin thrower Aya took up the hammer at Chukyo University where Shigenobu Murofushi, five times Asian Games men’s gold medalist, coaches. She holds the national record of 66.27 meters. Yuka Murofushi, Shigenobu’s daughter and the younger sister of the men’s gold medalist here Koji Murofushi, was sixth.
Top seed Paradorn Srichaphan outclassed home favorite Lee Hyung-taik 7-6, 6-4 to win the men’s singles tennis gold for Thailand, overcoming errors and a noisy partisan crowd.
On the eve of the penultimate day of the two-week games, forward Li Nan scored 24 points as defending champions China demolished Kazakhstan 131-62 to set up a final against South Korea in the men’s basketball competition. The hosts edged the Philippines 69-68 thanks to a dramatic three-point shot at the final buzzer from Lee Sang-min in the first semifinal at Busan’s Sajik Gymnasium.
NBA-bound center Yao Ming, who is set to sign a four-year deal with the Houston Rockets worth a reported $18 million, added 19 points in 13 minutes of play for China, firm favorites to retain their title against South Korea tomorrow.
China towered over the medals table, with 139 total golds, followed by South Korea with 81 and Japan with 43. Myanmar finally tasted gold yesterday with a title in women’s wushu. In a nail-biting finish in the latest round of a men’s hockey rivalry that stretches back to 1994, South Korea fought off a feisty Indian comeback to win 4-3 and capture the gold.
Hosts South Korea seemed to be in control of the match, leading 2-0 at halftime and then going ahead 3-0 in the 44th minute in front of a boisterous home crowd. But India came back with three goals in 12 minutes, including two by Jugraj Singh.
With the match tied at 3-3 and seemingly headed into overtime, South Korea’s Yeo Woon-kon converted a penalty corner — the second of his two goals — in the 68th minute.
In women’s volleyball, China thumped South Korea 25-12, 25-16, 22-25 and 25-19 to win the gold on the strength of Zhao Ruirui’s 26 points and five blocks.
Zhao, 21, is pegged as China’s leader in the Athens Olympics in 2004. Japan took the bronze medal for placing third in round-robin preliminaries.
