Sunday, Oct 13, 2002
Sunday, Oct 13, 2002 |
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Asian Games
By K.P. Mohan
China's Sun Yingjie (635) flanked by India's Sunita Rani (669) and Japan's Fukushi Kayoko (680) about to break away from the bunch during the women's 5,000m race at the Busan main stadium on Saturday. — Photo: V. Sudershan
Sunita Rani could not have hoped for anything better than the bronze the way the race developed, and the Indian girl grabbed that in splendid style, slicing a whopping 23s-plus off her own National record while clocking 15:18.77. The top six bettered the Games record. This was distance running at its best and it brought back memories of the great Chinese era in the 90s when the likes of Wang Junxia and Qu Yunxia ruled the world. This was a day when the favourites obliged in a five-event card, barring in the men's 1500 metres where, in a slow race, Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi out kicked the field from 110 metres out to win the gold. The Chinese, Dou Zhaobo and Li Huiquan also exceeded expectations by claiming the silver and bronze respectively, pushing the Asian champion and the favourite, Abdulrahman Suleiman of Qatar to the fourth place. The rest of Asia might as well have been wondering what really had gone wrong with the Chinese women middle and long distance runners during the past four years and more. But now, Sun Yingjie has given a clear indication that China can still bank on a few top-level distance runners in the women's section even as the Chinese are seeking answers from the Indians, media included, as to the secret of India's success in these championships. Sun Yingjie, a marathoner incidentally, entered here also for Sunday's 42km-plus grueller, though doubtful to compete with a distinct style of hanging arms, kept up such a pace from the start that it was a wonder that the others managed to keep her within sight at least up to the half-way stage. With the first 1000 metres being completed in 2:59.30, it was also a surprise that Sunita Rani managed to hang on behind the leaders. She had difficulty in managing the kind of laps that Sun Yingjie and Japanese Fukushi were putting in. But the Punjab girl kept herself in fourth place, behind Fukushi and the second Chinese, Xing Huina, and often close to the other Japanese, Yoshiko Ichikawa who was to fade away later. By the half-way mark it was clear that Sun Yingjie was going to win with plenty to spare, unless she had over-reached herself with those extra-quick laps. With five laps to go, Fukushi began pulling away from the second Chinese. Sunita played her cards well. She never gave up her hunt for a medal and with three and-a-half laps to go, overtook the tiring Xing Huina to more or less assure herself of the bronze. Sun Yingjie took the `bell' about 100 metres ahead of the Japanese and that is how she finished. Her 14:40.41 was only behind Paula Radcliffe of Britain (14:31.42), Berhane Adere of Ethiopia (14:33.65) and Gabriela Szabo of Romania (14:34.29) for the season and she became the 14th fastest woman 5000m runner on the all-time chart as well. Sunita, the 1500m gold already in her bag, did as well as she was expected to. Perhaps a shade better. Obviously, the pace was beyond her capacity. She did not try to chase the top Chinese, knowing the futility, just as all the others also preferred to wait behind and make their move, if at all. Sunita bettered her National mark of 15:41.81 clocked in the heats of the World championships in Seville in 1999. In a slow race she might have been in with a chance to fight for the top two places. "The conditions were ideal," said Sun Yingjie later. She also said that she was comfortable by keeping her arms hanging by her side, elbows bent slightly, just as used to do in a marathon. The girl comes from Shengyang, Liaoning province, home of many a well-known Chinese woman runner of yesteryears. Ramzi avenges Colombo defeat Rashid Ramzi, silver winner at the Asian meet in August avenged his Colombo defeat in winning the 1500 metres gold. "The others seemed to have not prepared well for this race," said Ramzi of the eventual time and the lack of challenge he had to face. His gold came in 3:47.33, the poorest time in 24 years in the Games. Abdulrahman Suleiman, brother of Mohamed Suleiman, who had won this event the past three occasions, was thoroughly outclassed on the finishing straight, after having made his move from 200 metres away. Ramzi was able to easily outpace the rest on the straight. This was Bahrain's second gold from the track, Mohammed Rashid having won the 800 metres earlier. India's Kuldeep Kumar finished seventh, a creditable effort, in 3:49.37. It was not the time that mattered but the fact that he could finish much ahead of many a better-rated runner, including Noor Jamal Yousuf of Qatar, the bronze medallist in Colombo, and Kim Soon-Hyung, the silver winner at the last Asian Games. China won three of the five gold medals at stake on this day taking the country's tally to 11 with Li Rongxiang, the favourite in men's javelin, clinching it with an 82.21 and Asian record holder Gu Yuan reaching 70.49 for the gold in hammer, the event making its debut in these Games. China also had the silver in women's hammer with Liu Yinghui winning it at 66.73. India's Hardeep Kaur hauled herself up from the seventh position to the fourth with a fifth-round throw of 59.36, but it was not good enough for the bronze that went to Japanese Aya Masumi at 62.18. Gu Yuan had touched an Asian mark of 71.10 while winning at Colombo and Hardeep had a National record of 61.67 in Delhi during the Open National. Harminder finishes sixth India's Harminder Singh finished sixth in the javelin, with a distance of 75.93 metres. He was the lone competitor in an individual event who had not made even the norm prescribed by the federation. In the end, he did reasonably well, though he was well short of his achievement back home, that of 77.39 metres. The qualifying mark was 78.00 metres. The Indian quartet of Jata Shankar, Paramjeet Singh, Satbir Singh and Bhupinder Singh clocked 3:06.14 while coming second behind Sri Lanka in one of the 4x400m relay heats. Sri Lanka timed 3:06.02 with an injured Sugath Tillakeratne on the anchor. Saudi Arabia won the other heat, ahead of Japan, in 3:06.02. Manojlal and P. Ramachandran are expected to replace Jata Shankar and Paramjeet in the final on Sunday. The Indian woes in relays are not over yet. Saraswati Saha has complained of a back problem and in case she is not fit on the morrow then the women's 4x100m relay team will comprise V. Jayalakshmi, Poonam Tomar, Anuradha Biswal and Vinita Tripathi. There were problems, too, in the men's shorter relay team composition with the team management toying with the idea of replacing National record holder Anil Kumar after his performance in the heats. A trial was ordered yesterday but Anil did not turn up for it. Only five specialist sprinters have come here, after the exclusion of Sandeep Sarkaria following a fitness assessment at Patiala. The other four are, Piyush Kumar, Clifford Joshua, Anand Menezes and Sanjay Ghosh. The results: men:1500m: 1. Rashid Ramzi (Brn) 3:47.33, 2. Dou Zhaobo (Chn) 3:48.51, 3. Li Huiquan (Chn) 3:48.55. Long jump: 1. Taher Hussein Al-Sabee (KSA) 8.14 (GR, old 8.12), 2. Li Dalong (Chn) 7.99, 3. Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Waleed (Qat) 7.80. Javelin: 1. Li Rongxiang (Chn) 82.21, 2. Yukifumi Murakami (Jpn) 78.77, 3. Sergey Voynov (Uzb) 78.74. Women: 5000m: 1. Sun Yingjie (Chn) 14:40.41 (GR, old 15:54.45), 2. Kayoko Fukushi (Jpn) 14:55.19, 3. Sunita Rani (Ind) 15:18.77. Hammer: 1. Gu Yuan (Chn) 70.49, 2. Liu Yinghui (Chn) 66.73, 3. Aya Masumi (Jpn) 62.18. Sunday's schedule (all finals): men: Discus, 4x100m, 4x400m. Women: Marathon, high jump, triple jump, 4x100m, 4x400m.
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