The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Paul Kirui and Sun Yingjie corner glory on rain-hit day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 04, 2004

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Sport - Athletics

Paul Kirui and Sun Yingjie corner glory on rain-hit day

By K. P. Mohan

NEW DELHI, OCT. 3. Kenyan Paul Kirui and Chinese Sun Yingjie won the World half marathon titles with impressive timings but in front of sparse crowds along the route on a rain-drenched course around India Gate here on Sunday.

Though Saturday night's thunderstorm had spoilt the open-air dinner that the IAAF President, Lamine Diack, hosted, the wet spell that continued right into the early hours of Sunday, did help bring the temperatures down to the relief of the runners. But then, they had to endure a higher level of humidity.

Kirui coped with the conditions admirably. And so did Sun Yingjie who could not be chased down the last 5km of the 21.097km course laid out on a double-loop that came back into the Nehru Stadium at the half-way mark.

Kirui could only have been one of the favourites in a strong Kenyan team, headed by John Cheuiyot Korir, the most impressive half-marathoner in 2003, who ended up fourth, the same as he did in Vilamoura, Portugal, last year. The third Kenyan was Wilson Kiprotich Kebenei who finished eighth.

Easy for Kenyans

Surprisingly, the Kenyans did not field the full compliment of five members and yet regained the team title with ease, ahead of Ethiopia and Uganda, with the defending champion Tanzania coming in seventh. This was Kenya's eighth team title since the championships started in 1992. Ethiopia won the women's title and was followed by Romania and Russia.

Kirui said that, past the 15km mark, Korir indicated to him that he had developed a pain in his legs and it was time for him (Kirui) to go ahead. With about 4km left for the end, Kirui, winner of the Rome and Berlin half marathons this year, took off decisively, never to look back.

As he entered the stadium, more than a 100 metres ahead of the second-placed Tanazanian, Fabiano Joseph, to the cheers of around 30,000 spectators, a large majority of them schoolchildren, brought in to compete in the Great Delhi Run, Kirui raised his arms in triumph. The 24-year-old Kenyan had finished 10th two years ago. Fabiano had to be content with the silver for the second year in succession.

Asian champion

In third place was Abdullah Ahmad Hassan of Qatar, who thus became the Asian champion since the continental championships were also being run concurrently. Hassan, formerly Albert Chepkurui of Kenya, was rated as the dark horse in the field by many including Korir.

Kirui, owner of the second fastest timing this year (1:00:22) clocked one hour two minutes, 15 seconds. Fabiano, around 150 metres behind, came in 1:02:31 Hassan was home in 1:02:36 and Korir 1:02:38.

Sun Yingjie, history's third fastest woman over the full marathon (2:19:39 in Beijing in October last year) clocked a National record of 1:08:40 while winning for China its second World half marathon title after Ren Xiujuan in 1996.

There could not have been too many doubts about the 27-year-old Chinese woman's dominance in a field of 64 runners, but Kenyan Lydia Cheromei, winner of the Rotterdam half-marathon this year and a former World junior cross-country champion, gave her a tough time till the 15km mark. Sun Yingjie could not be threatened after that.

Battle for silver

However, Cheromei had a battle on her hands for the silver with Romanian Constantina Tomescu, who led at one stage in the early part of the race, catching up with her after having run in third in solitary splendour for much of the second half of the race. The Kenyan eventually managed to shake her off and finished seven seconds ahead.

Irishwoman Sonia O'Sullivan, who was one of the pre-race favourites, could manage only the fourth place, lagging behind in the second half after having kept pace with the leaders till then. By the 15km mark she was more than a minute behind the leader, Sun Yingjie, and never could make a serious last-ditch effort to catch up. Sonia might just have missed her last chance to add a major road title to an impressive array of medals she has in her collection on the track in cross-country.

Indians disappoint

As could only have been expected, the Indians finished way down the order. However, Ram Bahadur Subha, the 25-year-old Shillong policeman had the satisfaction of registering the best-ever placing by an Indian male. He took the 59th place, clocking 1:10:33, more than 40 seconds off his personal best. Mukesh Kumar Yadav was 65th (1:11:53), Ajit Singh 66th (1:12:05), Raj Kumar 69th (1:12:12) and Mohan Chander Kapri 72nd (1:12.49) among 84 finishers. Seven among the starters did not finish.

India took the 12th position in the team standings, a rung above the bottom-placed Nepal.

In the women's section, Geeta Rani of Uttar Pradesh, who finished fourth in the Patiala trials, was the best among the Indians, taking the 45th place in a personal best of 1:22:59. That also happened to the best ever placing by an Indian.

Geeta collapsed immediately after the finish and had to be given first-aid. Sarita Marbade (1:23:23), Purshot Laima Devi (1:24:38) and Pushpa Devi (1:24:44) took the next three placings behind Geeta with Sarabjeet Kaur (1:28:48) ending up 52nd. The Indian team finished eighth and last.

The women's race that ended past 11 a.m., in temperatures touching 27 degrees Celsius (83 per cent humidity) took its toll with half a dozen competitors needing attention at the medical center. Among them were Hafida Izem of Morocco and Tenzin Yangdon of Bhutan who were brought in from the course in semi-conscious condition and were put on `drip' for some time before recovering.

The results:

Men: 1. Paul Kirui (Ken) 1:02:15, 2. Fabiano Joseph (Tan) 1:02:31, 3. Abdullah Ahmad Hassan (Qat) 1:02:36.

Team standings: 1. Kenya 3:07:55, 2. Ethiopia 3:08:37, 3. Uganda 3:13:48.

Women: 1. Sun Yingjie (Chn) 1:08:40, 2. Lydia Cheromei (Ken) 1:09:00, 3. Constantina Tomescu (Rom) 1:09:07.

Team standings: 1. Ethiopia 3:36:00, 2. Romania 3:36:08, 3. Russia 3:38:21.

Asian standings: Men: 1. Abdullah Ahmad Hassan (Qat), 2. Yokinobu Nakazaki (Jpn) 1:04:48, 3. Yoshinori Oda (Jpn) 1:05.03.

Women: 1. Sun Yingjie (Chn), 2. Yuki Saito (Jpn), 3. Zhou Chunxiu (Chn) 1:12:52.

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