Ethiopia’s Derara Hurisa on Sunday won the Vienna City Marathon, but was disqualified soon after when the soles of his shoes were found to be 1cm too thick in contravention of the rules.
Hurisa crossed the line with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 22 seconds, but less than 45 minutes later was left distraught when his time was struck off as his shoe soles were 5cm thick.
The soles of road running shoes cannot be thicker than 4cm and Hurisa had worn a different set of shoes to the ones he had mentioned on his form.
Photo: Reuters
“We also stressed in the technical meeting the rules about the shoes. Unfortunately, we had no other choice than disqualifying the athlete,” race coordinator Hannes Langer said. “It’s the first time something like this has happened. I’m pretty sure that from now on there will be some form of checks to avoid something like this to happen again in a major race.”
Kenya’s Leonard Langat, who finished three seconds behind Hurisa, was declared the winner as a result.
“Of course I would have preferred to have broken the tape,” Langat said. “I had no clue about the disqualification until they told me. It was of course my aim to win, and I thank God that in the end I did.”
The race, usually scheduled for April each year, was held in tough conditions with many runners complaining of the extreme heat and the event was overshadowed by the death of a 40-year-old Australian participant in the half-marathon.
With some players in their 70s and opponents young enough to be their grandchildren, age is just a number for bridge competitors engaged in a battle of wits at the Asian Games. Masood Mazhar was born in the final months of World War II and before the partition of India and Pakistan, while Taiwan’s Chen Kuan-hsuan is just 23. “My father used to play so I’ve been playing all my life,” said the 78-year-old Mazhar, competing for Pakistan. People have enjoyed variations of bridge for centuries, but the tactical card game is a relatively new discipline at the Asian Games, only becoming a
A rampant Nepal yesterday rewrote the T20 international cricket record books at the Asian Games, while China’s Zhang Yufei laid down another marker for the Paris Olympics in the swimming pool. Hosts China were leading the medals table with 74 golds as of press time last night, far ahead of South Korea (18) and Japan (14), after adding titles in artistic gymnastics, chess, sailing, shooting, wushu and beach volleyball. Taiwan has two golds, three silvers and three bronzes. In some of the first action on day four in Hangzhou, Nepal smashed a series of records to open the men’s cricket competition in a
South Korea yesterday crushed China’s dreams in the women’s team badminton final to take gold, but elsewhere at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the hosts fared better, including setting a new world record on the way to gold in the women’s team trap shooting. The women’s team badminton final, which featured some of the top ranked players in the world, was hotly anticipated in China where the sport is hugely popular. First out was South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young, 21, against China’s world No. 3 and Tokyo Olympics singles champion Chen Yufei, 25. Chen was no match for An, who won
Taiwan’s baseball team yesterday took the field sporting caps and jerseys not with “T” for Taiwan, but “CT,” for Chinese Taipei. Under a decades-old agreement between Taipei and Beijing, Taiwanese teams can only compete internationally if they do not use the name — or flag — of Taiwan. Opposing them on the new field in Shaoxing was Hong Kong, representing what Beijing hopes is Taiwan’s future — a team playing under its own regional flag, with its own athletes, but as a part of China. At the Asian Games, China has been going out of its way to be welcoming to Taiwanese athletes,
RSS