Sunday, Aug 11, 2002
Sunday, Aug 11, 2002 |
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Athletics
By K.P. Mohan
Sri Lankan Sushanthika Jayasinghe (centre) powers her way to the 100m title as Perepelove Lyubov of Uzbekistan (bronze medallist, right) and Khubbieva Guzel (left) try to catch up at the 14th Asian athletic championship in Colombo on Saturday.
This is the first time that 80 metres has been crossed in a championship in Asia, the Asian Games included. The gentle Japanese's morning feat set the stage for some keen battles in the afternoon session when Kuwaiti Fawzi Al-Shammari re-asserted his new-found status as the best quarter-miler in Asia and Saudi Arabian Jamal Al-Saffar and local favourite Susanthika Jayasinghe sprinted away with the short dash gold medals. From the Indian viewpoint, the day did bring some cheer when Bobby Aloysius grabbed an improbable-looking silver in high jump and J.J. Shobha claimed her first medal at this level, also a silver, after having gone into the final event of the heptathlon, the 800 metres, in the lead. L. Aruna Devi added to the Indian tally by winning the 10,000 metres in a mediocre field. But there were disappointments, too, Nirbhay Singh ending up last in hammer being the most glaring. The gold and the meet record could only have been expected from the affable Murofushi, easily the leading man in Asia and the top-ranked thrower in the world last year. ``I am happy with the 80 metres, but wanted to do better than that was achieved in the European championships'', said Murofushi, talking about meet simultaneously `on' in Munich. Incidentally, there, Adian Annus of Hungary had the gold at 81.17. Here, at 80.45 metres, the championship record was Murofushi's without much sweat. Only he and Andrey Abduvaliyev, the former Asian record holder who has represented Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have gone beyond the 80-metre mark in the continent. Murofushi, in fact, achieved that distinction many times over during the last World championships in Edmonton, where he finished with the silver, behind Pole Szymon Ziolkowski despite an awesome series of 80-plus throws including three over 82 metres. He had snatched the Asian record away from Abduvaliyev in the Toyota meet prior to the Worlds. Today, Murofushi, son of the legendary Shigenobu, five-time Asian Games hammer champion, started with a 77.17 that bettered Abduvaliyev's meet record of 76.67 set in Fukuoka in 1998 and went up to his winning mark on his third attempt. He had other throws that measured 78.48, 78.18, 79.04 and 78.55. This season he had crossed 80 metres thrice with the best coming at the Doha Grand Prix in May when he won with an 83.33. Japan also had the silver, quite expectedly at that, with Hiroaki Doi, the second-ranked Asian this season, claiming it with a 70.27m throw that came on his last attempt. He was in silver position from the second round onwards with a 69.47, while Uzbek Viktor Ustinov claimed the bronze at 69.25m. China surprisingly did not have a competitor in hammer though it had two competitors within the top 10 in Asia this season. Not long ago, Bi Zhong was the man who dominated the hammer event in Asia and Murofushi recalled the time when he made his Asian debut at Manila in 1993 when he, as a 19-year-old came second behind the Chinese with a modest 65.54. Nirbhay finishes 9th India's Nirbhay Singh fared miserably, finishing ninth and last, not being able to make the last three rounds with a best of 59.32 metres on his second attempt. He had a 63.59 at Bangalore in June and had he been able to reproduce that effort he would still have managed only the seventh place here. But that would have been somewhat respectable in terms of performance-levels at least. Tatiana Effimenko claims gold To gladden the Indian hearts, Bobby Aloysius, just back from her disappointment at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, though she jumped her second best mark there, took the silver at the high jump pit. The Japanese, Miki Imai and Yoko Ota looked to be out of sorts while the Kazaks, Svetlana Zalevskaya and Marina Korzhova were also below par. ` The gold was claimed at 1.92 by Kyrgysztan's Tatiana Effimenko who was in a different plane altogether today, clearing each height from 1.80 on her first attempt. She failed at 1.95m. J. J. Shobha could not hold onto her 62-point lead going into the final event in the heptathlon, with Kazanina proving far too superior in the 800 metres. But the silver was not a bad effort for someone who has been in the shadows of Pramila Ganapathy and Soma Biswas back home. She had tallied a personal best 5838 at Bangalore this season and today's 5775 against the Kazak's 58141 was not far off that mark. Soma recovered well on the second day but could manage only the fourth place with 5609. Japan had a one-two in the men's 20km walk, with Eiichi Yoshizawa and Toshihito Fujinohara filling up the top two places. Gurdev Singh, though he had a brief moment of glory, being adjudged third after a Korean was disqualified, eventually had to be satisfied with the fourth place. It was later found out that the Korean, Shin Il Young, was wrongly disqualified instead of a Malaysian and he was re-instated for the bronze. Jamal Al-Saffar retained his 100m title and in the process avenged his defeat to team-mate Salem Mubarak Al-Yami in Kuwait earlier this season. Running into a headwind of 3.1m/s, Al-Saffar clocked 10.43, rather poor at this level, with Kazak Gennadiy Chernovol taking silver at 10.50 and Al-Yami the bronze. Jayasinghe's victory in the women's 100m was, if anything, more authoritative as she put daylight between her and the rest by the 80-metre mark and coasted through to a tumultuous ovation from the crowd. All the ovation could, however, not prod Sugath Tillakeratne on in the men's 400 metres as Kuwaiti Al-Shammari and Saudi Al-Bishi fought their battle out. The Kuwaiti, after having run a rather slow first 200 was irrepressible on the straight as he cruised through for a 45.22 win. Al-Bishi came in at 45.43 with the Sri Lankan at 45.73. In a field where there were no Chinese and Japanese, two North Koreans cornered the top honours by winning the gold and silver in the women's 10,000. India's Beant Kaur who looked strong early on was lapped, while Aruna Devi hung on for the bronze. The Indian men's relay team, barely making it into the final last night, finished fifth in 39.72. Thailand won the gold, edging the Saudis while Qatar took the bronze. Both of India's 1500m entrants in the men's section, T.M. Sajeevan and Kuldip Kumar made it into the next round, though with poor timings in heats that resembled women's races. But then these were only heats and the runners were perhaps justified in returning timings like 4:11.43, the winning time for World junior silver medallist, Abdulrahman Suleiman in one of the heats. Sahebani Oram qualifies India's Sahebani Oram hardly inspired confidence as she qualified for the 400m hurdles final with a 60.95s effort. She must be preserving herself for the final. P.S. Primesh (1:55.36) and K.A. Jaya Kumar (1:52.38) also got past the first round of the men's 800 metres. The results: men: 100m: 1. Jamal A. Al-Saffar (KSA) 10.43, 2. Gennadiy Chernovol (KAZ) 10.50, 3. Salem Mubarak Al-Yami (KSA) 10.52. 400m: 1. Fawzi Dahesh Al-Shammari (KUW) 45.21s, 2. Hamdan O. Al-Bishi (KSA) 45.43, 3. Sugath Tillakeratne (SRI) 45.73. 10,000m: 1. Ham Pong Sil (PRK) 34:44.92, 2. Jo Pun Hui (PRK) 35:00.63, 3. L. Aruna Devi (IND) 35:38.70. 3000m steeplechase: 1. Khamis Seifedin Abdullah (QAT) 8:15.80, 2. Saad Shaddad Al-Asmari (KSA) 8:16.34, 3. Ali Abubaker Kamal (QAT) 8:37.03. Hammer: 1. Koji Murofushi (JPN) 80.45m (NMR, previous 76.67), 2. Hiroaki Doi (JPN) 70.27, 3. Viktor Ustinov (UZB) 69.25. 4x100m relay: 1. Thailand 38.99s, 2. Saudi Arabia 39.16, 3. Qatar 39.39. 20km walk: 1. Eiichi Yoshizawa (JPN) 1:26:51, 2. Toshihito Fujinohara (JPN) 1:28:06, 3. Shin Il Young (KOR) 1:31:07. Women: 100m: 1. Susanthika Jayasinghe (SRI) 11.29, 2. Qin Wanping (CHN) 11.56, 3. Lyubov Perepelova (UZB) 11.60. 400m: 1. Tatyana Roslanova (KAZ) 52.61s, 2. Zanura Amrieva (UZB) 53.87, 3. Nguyen Thi Tinh (VIE) 54.57. High jump: 1. Tatiana Effimenko (KGZ) 1.92m, 2. Bobby Aloysius (IND) 1.84, 3. Marina Korzhova (KAZ) 1.84. Pole vault: 1. Gao Yushing (CHN) 4.20m (NMR, previous 4.00m), 2. Masumi Ono (JPN) 4.20, 3. Desy Margawati (INA) 4.10. Long jump: 1. Yelena Kochsheyeva (KAZ) 6.61m, 2. Lerma Elmira Gabito (Phi) 6.40, 3. Marstella Torres (Phi) 6.40. Heptathlon: 1. Sevtlana Kazanina (KAZ) 5841 pts, 2. J. J Shobha (IND) 5775, 3. Wang Hailan (CHN) 5635. 4x100m: 1. China 43.94s, 2. Uzbekistan 44.85, 3. Thailand 44.89.
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