MANILA, 22 September 2003 — Saudi Arabian athletes reaped two medals to put their country in the forefront of the 15th Asian athletics championships yesterday. Hamdan Al-Bishi was unlucky this time and settled for silver by clocking 45.39secs in the 400m final won by Fawzi Al Shammari who doubled up Kuwait’s golden harvest by winning the final in 45.16secs. Yuki Yamaguchi of Japan’s 46.18 was good for bronze.
Salem Al-Yami took bronze for Saudi Arabia with a time of 10.28secs. The race was won by Chen Haijian of China, who earned the sprint king title with a 10.25sec result in the 100m by beating Gennadiy Chernovol who settled for the silver for Kazakhstan at 10.27.
World champion Saif Saed Shaheen bit the dust as he was sensationally beaten in the men’s 1,500 meters final following his shock withdrawal from the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The Kenyan transplant, now running for Qatar, made a bold gamble by ceding his favorite discipline to Busan Asian Games champion Khamis Abdullah in hopes of doubling Qatar’s gold medal haul in two track events held 75 minutes apart.
Abdullah duly delivered, but Shaheen, once known as Stephen Cherono and the winner of steeplechase gold at the Paris world championships last month, sprinted too early and was beaten by eventual winner Ramzi Rashid of Bahrain, the reigning men’s 1,500m Asian Games champion.
Shaheen made his ill-timed burst on the 900m mark, only to be overhauled by Rashid as they began the final lap.
The 20 year-old, fifth in the 1,500m event at the Lausanne Super Grand Prix in July, stepped on the gas but his tank was empty as Rashid, 23, had the stronger finishing kick.
The Bahraini runner won in 3mins 41.66secs, while Shaheen settled for the silver in 3.42.79.
Japan’s Fumikazu Kobayashi had threatened Shaheen but settled for third in 3.42.96. “I know Shaheen is a world champion, so I held my power in reserve for the final round,” the Bahraini said. “He went too soon.” Shaheen greeted his silver medal finish with a helpless shrug. “I want (Abdullah) to win the steeplechase gold,” Shaheen said earlier, explaining his decision to withdraw from the steeplechase final. “I don’t want to run too many races.”
Abdullah led from the front for most of the way and left the competition for dead in the last 300m to win in 8mins 51.60secs, relegating Wu Wen-Chien of Chinese-Taipei to the silver in 8:55.38, while Japan’s Yasunori Uchitomi took bronze in 8:56.31.
It was the day for Middle Eastern athletes to shine as Kuwait also won two gold medals. Ali Izenkawi, 19 year-old son of a Hungarian long jumper and a Kuwaiti shot put specialist, won the hammer throw gold with a best effort of 70.62m.
“I’m still suffering from jet lag because of the different time zones,” Izenkawi said. “It was two meters below my personal best.”
Japan’s Hiroaki Doi took silver in 70.11m, while Dilshod Nazarov won Tajikistan’s first medal in the games with a heave of 69.90m.
Al Shammari gave Kuwait the second gold in the men’s 400m final in 45.16secs. Hamdan Al-Bishi of Saudi Arabia settled for second in 45.39, while Yuki Yamaguchi of Japan’s 46.18 was good for bronze.
China added to their four golds by taking the men’s 100m and 110m hurdles crowns, as well as the women’s pole vault and the 100m hurdles.
Chen Haijian earned the sprint king title with a 10.25sec result in the 100m, beating Gennadiy Chernovol who settled for the silver for Kazakhstan at 10.27.
Salem Al-Yami of Saudi Arabia won the bronze in 10.28.
Shi Dongpeng finished the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.50secs, besting South Korean Park Tae-Kyong’s 13.71 and Shi’s compatriot Wu Youjia’s 13.80. Wu Sha vaulted the bar at 4.20m, ahead of Japanese Takayo Kondo’s 4.10 and Ni Putu Desy Margawati’s 3.90 for Indonesia.
Su Yiping won the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.09secs, beating compatriot Feng Yun’s 13.25 and Trecia Roberts’ 13.29 for Thailand. Myanmar as well as Uzbekistan also won their first golds at the Manila meet.
Yin Yin Khine ruled the women’s 400m for Myanmar with 52.96secs, edging out Chinese Bu Fanfang who finished in 52.97 and Svetlana Bodritskaya’s 53.19 for Kazakhstan. Uzbek Anastasiya Juravleva won the women’s long jump in a wind-aided 6.53m, topping China’s Liang Shuyan and the hosts’ Lerma Gabito. Liang picked up the silver in 6.51 while Gabito took the bronze in 6.50.
Gatlin Upsets 100 Meters
Favorites to Win $500,000
In Moscow, American Justin Gatlin upset world champion Kim Collins and world record holder Tim Montgomery to win the men’s 100 meters at the $2 million Moscow Challenge on Saturday. Gatlin, the world indoor 60 meters champions, ran a modest 10.05 seconds on a chilly night at the Luzhniki Olympic stadium to claim a cool $500,000 first prize.
European 100 meters champion Dwain Chambers of Britain was a distant second in 10.18, with American Montgomery third in 10.19. Collins, who pulled off an upset victory at the World Championships in Paris, came sixth in a time of 10.36.
The sprinters were competing for a record $1 million in prize money, half of which went to the winner.
Chryste Gaines was the only runner to go under 11 seconds in the women’s 100 meters, sealing a one-sided victory over a strong field including world 100 and 200 meters champion Kelli White.
The 33-year-old Gaines, who failed to make the US World Championship team in the 100 meters, clocked 10.98 seconds to win a $75,000 bonus. France’s Christine Arron was a distant second in 11.18, while Gaines’ American compatriot White had to settle for third in 11.21.
Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj, who clinched the men’s overall title at the world athletics final in Monaco a week ago, had a much harder time in the 1500 meters, edging out Kenya’s Paul Korir by just four hundredths of a second.
The four-times world 1500 meters champion posted three minutes and 36.44 seconds, while Korir ran 3:36.48.
The race in the men’s 800 meters was even closer, with world silver medalist Yuri Borzakovsky of Russia beating Kenya’s Wilfried Bungei in a photo-finish by 1/100 of a second, 1:46.67 to 1:46.68. World triple jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva won the women’s long jump with a personal best of 6.82 meters.
The Russian beat long jump world champion Eunice Barber of France and silver medalist Tatyana Kotova of Russia, who jumped 6.72 and 6.63 respectively.
Vita Palamar won the women’s high jump by clearing 1.96 meters, with fellow Ukrainian Inga Babakova and Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist ending up equal second with 1.92.
In earlier action, Maria Mutola of Mozambique easily won the 800 meters in a time of 1:58.82.
World triple jump champion Christian Olsson of Sweden was the only man to go over 17 meters, posting a respectable 17.34 on his second attempt.
Briton Radcliffe Sets
Another World Best
In London, Briton Paula Radcliffe set a world best for the half-marathon yesterday when she clocked 65 minutes 40 seconds in the Great North Run.
The previous fastest time of 65:44 for the 21.1-km race was set by Kenyan Susan Chepkemei in Lisbon two years ago but the mark was not ratified because of the course’s downward slope.
Radcliffe, who broke her own world best for the marathon in London this year, said she did not think her time would be recognized either because of the slope on the course from Newcastle to South Shields. Ethiopia’s world 10,000 meters champion Berhane Adere finished second ahead of Chepkemei.
Radcliffe, who has said she will run the marathon in next year’s Athens Olympics although she has yet to win a global title on the track, confirmed she would take part in next month’s world half-marathon championships in Vilamoura, Portugal.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will recognize marks set on the road as world records from Jan. 1 next year. It lists South African Elana Meyer’s 1999 mark of 66:44 as the current world best.
The authoritative International Track and Field Annual lists both Norwegian Ingrid Kristiansen’s 1987 mark of 66:40, which was not ratified by the IAAF, and Meyer’s time.
