India dominated the Asian Games track yesterday, with gold in the women’s 10,000m and 3,000m steeplechase as China made a losing start on their international cricket debut.
Preeja Sreedharan led an Indian 1-2 in the 10,000m, clinching the title with a stunning burst of pace into the home straight ahead of teammate Kavita Raut, with Bahrain’s Ethiopian-born Shitaya Habtegebrel third.
On a night of upsets, Sudha Singh then held off a desperate late lunge by China’s Jin Yuan to win the steeplechase by a head, with Japan’s Minori Hayakari taking bronze.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Day 9 of the biggest multi-sports event after the Olympics also saw women’s rugby and boxing take place for the first time.
Sreedharan, who won in 31 minutes, 50.28 seconds, said she stuck to her race plan, which ultimately paid dividends.
“My coach said if I ran my own pace I would definitely get gold. I ran my own style and my own pace, and I won. I didn’t think about the other competitors,” she said.
At a packed Aota Main Stadium, Bahrain’s Kenyan-born Ali Hasan Mahboob, previously known as Silas Kirui, claimed the men’s 5,000m title in a slow 13 minutes, 47.84 seconds.
Two other Kenyan-born athletes completed the podium — Qatar’s defending champion James Kwalia with silver and teammate Felix Kibore with bronze.
Tajikistan’s Dilshod Nazarov took the men’s hammer, while China’s Li Long was the women’s shot put champion.
Meanwhile, all the leading sprinters comfortably cruised into the men’s 100m semi-finals, including defending champion Yahya Habeeb of Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s Asian record holder Samuel Francis.
After a women’s tournament was won by Pakistan, men’s cricket made its Asian Games debut with China performing on the international stage for the first time, but it was not the start they wanted as Malaysia crushed them by 89 runs with a blistering display of power hitting.
In the absence of India, who controversially refused to send a team to Guangzhou, the established Asian trio of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are braced for an emotion-fueled gold medal assault with Afghanistan.
Rugby also got underway, with China making a confident start by thrashing South Korea 51-0 in the first women’s match ever to feature at an Asian Games.
Women’s boxing was also held for the first time as the sport attempts to snare a wider audience, with fighters from China, North Korea and the Philippines all getting victories.
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