None of the record 171 gold medals China had already collected at the Guangzhou Asian Games carried quite the luster of former world record holder Liu Xiang’s victory in the 110m hurdles.
Two years after he left the Bird’s Nest Stadium crowd in stunned silence as he limped off the track with an Achilles injury before even starting his first heat at the Beijing Olympics, China’s multimillionaire athletics superstar won at a major meet on home soil yesterday.
There was a little bit of drama at the start — Liu, unhappy with the crowd noise, stepped out of the blocks before he had settled, got up and put his finger to his lips to ask for some hush.
PHOTO: AFP
He led from the sound of the starters’ gun to the finish, extending his lead over the last four hurdles to cross in his season-best time of 13.09 seconds. His Chinese teammate and Athletes’ village roommate Shi Dongpeng took silver in 13.38 seconds.
The 2004 Olympic champion then stripped off his red Chinese singlet, draped a Chinese flag around his shoulders and set off on a victory lap of the 80,000-seat Aoti Stadium.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to run 13.09 seconds and break the Asian Games record. I’m really so happy and actually I was very relaxed. The atmosphere in the stadium was really great,” Liu said.
PHOTO: AFP
China came into the Games with the target of overhauling the record 166 gold medals they set at the Doha Asian Games four years ago.
Olympic champion diver Wu Minxia ensured China equaled that mark earlier yesterday with an expected win in the women’s 1m springboard.
Li Hong won the women’s under-50kg division in karate to secure No. 167.
PHOTO: AFP
A couple of hours later, Liu was celebrating on the podium.
South Korea were in second place, a long way behind, with 71 gold medals. The most important thing was, the team was still at the Games.
A North Korean artillery attack on an island near the disputed western border killed two marines and two civilians and injured others on Tuesday, sparking concern about retaliation and international calls for calm.
Sports and Games officials are insisting the focus remains on sports.
“I don’t want to get into politics,” said Kim Chang-kew, president of the Asian Associated Wrestling Committee. “We are [here] for sport and for these Asian Games. Sport should not be connected with war or peace.”
On the downside, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced that a second athlete from Uzbekistan had failed a doping test for the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine and had been disqualified from the Games.
OCA medical committee chairman Mani Jegathesan said 23-year-old wrestler Jakhongir Muminov was disqualified from the competition. He urged Uzbekistan to investigate the source of the positive cases.
Last Friday, Shokir Muminov was disqualified and stripped of his judo silver medal after testing positive for Methylhexaneamine. The OCA said the Muminovs were not related.
“We take each incident separately, but because it involved the same country and the same substance ... we have indicated to them that it would be worthwhile to investigate,” Jegathesan said.
Organizers planned 1,500 urine and 200 blood tests during the Games and confirmed yesterday that at least 1,262 tests had been conducted.
In other track and field finals, Li Caixia beat Chinese teammate Li Ling to win the women’s pole vault, and Asian record holder Ehsan Hadidi gave Iran their 16th gold medal of the Games with victory in the men’s discus.
South Korea’s Kim Deok-hyeon edged China’s Su Xiongfeng in the men’s long jump, leaping 8.11m on his last attempt.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia picked up another equestrian title, with Hamad Ramzy Alduhami winning the show jumping.
Afghanistan set up an Asian Games cricket semi-final against Pakistan with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Hong Kong, while Sri Lanka overcame some nervous moments in a two-wicket win over Nepal.
“I think Pakistan will be more scared of us after today’s performance than we are of them,” captain Mohammad Nabi said.
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