China dominates final athletics day, Qatar get 5,000m gold (Roundup)

By Peter Auf der Heyde Dec 12, 2006, 17:51 GMT

China\'s Liu Xiang speeds to victory in the men\'s 110m hurdles final on the fifth and final day of the athletics competition for the 15th Asian Games at Khalifa Stadium in Doha, 12 December 2006. Liu won the gold medal. EPA/KHALED EL-FIQI

Doha, Qatar - China dominated the final day of the Asian Games athletics competition on Tuesday as they won four of the 10 gold medals on offer.

The first medal of the day went to world champion and world record holder Liu Xiang, who had no problems in winning the 110 metre hurdles.

Liu won in a time of 13.15 seconds, beating his team-mate Shi Dongpeng, who ran a personal best time of 13.28 seconds to take second place.

The bronze went to Japan's Masato Naito.

Liu said he had not intended to run so fast. 'Before the race I planned to run slower, but after the start I saw a black shadow following me. I was scared to be defeated by him. So I picked up my pace.'

They added the women's 4x100m relay, winning in a time of 44.33 seconds, with Japan taking the silver and Taiwan the bronze after third-placed Thailand had been disqualified.

China's Gao Shuyin won the women's pole vault with a jump of 4.30 metres. Malaysian Samsu Rosalinda also managed 4.30, but finished second based on her previous vaults.

Japan's Ikuko Nishikori took the bronze medal.

The first four finishers in the men's triple jump each broke their personal best, with China's Li Yanxi winning with a leap of 17.06m, from Kazakh Roman Valiyev and South Korean Kim Deok-Hyeon.

Another of the overwhelming favourites, Maryam Yusuf Jamal had no problems in the women's 1,500m as she won in a time of 4:08.63 minutes.

Ethiopian-born Jamal, who had earlier won the 800m, finished first ahead of Japan's Yuriko Kobayashi, who beat India's Sinimole Puaulose on the finish line.

'I am very happy to win here as I came to get the gold. It has been a long and hard season and I only trained for three weeks for the Asian Games, so I am very pleased that I won,' Jamal said.

James Kurui was a popular winner for the hosts in the men's 5,000m as he lead three African-born runners.

Kurui won in a time of 13:38.90 seconds, beating Bahraini Salem Mucheru Jawher, who finished 2.2 seconds behind. The bronze went to another Qatar athlete, Sultan Khamis Zaman, who was born in Burundi.

Kurui, who said he had wanted to win to give the Qatari people victory in the absence of steeplechase world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen, who was expected to win the gold.

'I wanted to win the gold and I am happy that I managed. I will run for Qatar until the end of my career.'

Zaman, who at one stage was leading, lost ground on the two leading racers with 250m to go. 'I was feeling a bit tired and I knew that I could not win today. So I looked around to see that I was fine for fourth place and then I just ran home.'

The men's javelin competition was won by South Korean Park Jae Myoung with a throw of 79.30m. Japan's Yukifumi Murakami was second with 78.15, while China's Li Rongxiang took bronze.

The defending champions in the women's 4x400m relay, India, fought neck and neck throughout the race with China but managed to break away with 100m to go. The final Chinese runner was caught on the last metres by Kazakhstan, who took the silver from China.

India's winning time was 3:32.95 minutes.

In the men's 4x100m Thailand won ahead of Japan in a photo finish with the judges giving both teams a time of 39.21, but Thailand being adjudged to have finished ahead.

The final gold medal of the athletics competition was won by Saudi Arabia, which won the 4x400m men's relay with a time of 3:05.31 minutes.

The silver medal was won by India, which managed to just edge out Sri Lanka on the final stretch.