Is the Chinese dragon losing fire?

TURTLE BLOOD is passe. So too is caterpillar fungus tonic. The heady brew may have helped the Chinese to a spew of world records in women's distance events four summers ago, but the Asian giant appears to be fast losing its fire in continental athletics.

At their peak, Chinese women used to break distance world records by head-spinning margins, once even by a whopping 42 seconds in the 10,000 m ! The world marks, from 1,500m to 10,000m, still stand in their name. And in the metric mile, Chinese women own the four fastest times ever. But they have slowed down considerably now, and even in their speciality distance events they are nowhere in the world chart this year.

Dong Yanmei, a former 5,000 world record holder and 10,000 world leader, is a classic case depicting the fall of the Chinese. The girl, a former protege of China's controversial Ma Junren who coached the sensational world-stunners, won a distance double at the recent East Asian Games in Osaka but was nearly two minutes off her 1997 time in the 10,000m and more than one minute slower in the 5,000m.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation's performance lists in these events this year present a more dismal picture.

Yanmei is still the best Chinese in the chart, but she is in the 61st position in the world this year. And there are eight Japanese above her.

The scene is the same in the 10,000 m where the fastest Chinese, Hongxia Wang, is at the 32nd position but there are 12 Japanese with faster timings. And Kotorida Takako, at no.8 in the IAAF list, has the best ranking.

At the World Youth Championships in Hungary recently, the sixth- placed Qatar was the best Asian country in the medals table. With six medals, including three golds and two silvers, Qatar was three rungs above China, which had just two golds.

And at the junior World meet in Chile late last year, China had just one gold, a big dip from the seven it had gained in the previous edition at the French town of Annecy. A big fall really !For long, Chinese sport has been haunted by drug scandals and clearly, Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympics forced the Communist nation to a massive clean-up act.

The withdrawal of 27 members, including seven of Ma Junren's trainees, from the 311-strong Chinese team for last year's Sydney Olympics comes to mind.

And even after years of regimented training and mysterious tonics, the Chinese now appear mediocre while treading the straight path. But Beijing has won a major success for its clean- up efforts in being chosen to host the 29th Olympics.

For now, Japan seems to be the flavour of the season. And its athletes will lead the Asian challenge at the World championships now in progress in Edmonton.

Sprinter Nobuhara Asahara, 400 m hurdler Dai Tamesue, long jumper Maho Hanaoka, hammer thrower Koji Murofushi and marathoners Aburaya Shigeru and Morishita Yoshiteru are some of the Japanese who will be in the limelight in the Canadian city.

Asahara, who trains in Texas, is the fastest Asian this year and is currently one of the seven best sprinters in the world. The 28-year-old ran 10.02 seconds, narrowly missing the bronze at the glamorous Bislett Games in Oslo a few days ago and will not lack motivation in Edmonton.

A wee bit faster, Asahara will become the first Asian to break the 10-second barrier in the men's 100 m. Koji Ito, Asahara's sprint-relay team-mate at the Sydney Olympics, holds the continental record at 10 secs.

Dai Tamesue will be another star to watch. A 23-year-old with a taste for short sprints and talent for the lower hurdles, Tamesue wasted a few good years attempting to sort the confusion. And just before the Olympics last year, he took to hurdling seriously.

His career picked up steam nicely and in the Sydney 400 m hurdles heats, Tamesue was in the lead after the eighth barrier. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and crashed into the ninth hurdle and messed up a good chance.

The ninth barrier nightmare haunted him for some time but he overcame the mental block a few months ago and is in top form now. At the Lausanne Grand Prix in early July, Tamesue won the bronze in 48.38 secs, a timing which carried him to the sixth spot in the world rankings this year. He also picked a silver at the Japan Grand Prix in May.

Meanwhile, long-jumper Maho Hanaoka who broke the Japanese national record with a 6.82 m effort in Osaka this June, is also among the world's best six this year.

Interestingly, there are four Asians in the world's women's top 20, including Hanaoka's team-mate Kumiko Ikeda (6.78), China's Asian Games champion Guan Yingnan (6.77) and Indian record-holder Anju Bobby George (6.74 m, 17th).

These four will be attempting to break the seven-metre barrier but Guan Yingnan is the closest to the milestone. Yingnan, who jolted American Marion Jones in the Japan Open last year, has a personal best of 6.95 m.

Russia's Tatyana Kotova, who is the only jumper to go past seven metres this year, leads the table with 7.12 m while Latvia's Valentina Gotovska comes next with 6.88 m.

Athletes from West Asia have also come good this year. Qatar's Mezyan Nassim won the 110 m hurdles in the recent Hungary Youth World Meet in 13.27 secs, the eighth best time in the world this year.

And the Sydney Games 400 m hurdles silver medallist, Asian record-holder Hadi Soua'an al- Somaily has been consistent this season, picking medals at Grand Prix meets, including a bronze at the British GP in London's Crystal Palace, the last major event before the Edmonton Championship.

China has been rather quiet this year. Even in the men's 20-km walk where its Wang Liping won the Sydney Olympic gold, it does not figure in the world's top ten.

STAN RAYAN

Kochi

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