The Hindu : Sport : Lao Yi, Fukushimi sprint to wins

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Lao Yi, Fukushimi sprint to wins

K.P. Mohan

Shock exit for Saad Kamel; Indians go without medal on day two

— PHOTO: AFP

TIGHT FINISH:Lao Yi of China (3rd from top) finishes ahead of (top to bottom) Yahya Hassan Habeeb of Saudi Arabia, Barakat al-Harthi of Oman, Suryo Agung Wibowo of Indonesia, Yasir al-Nashri of Saudi Arabia and Zheng Dongsheng of China in the men's 100m final.

GUANGZHOU: Another huge crowd of around 55,000 turned up at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium on Monday, a day when China took three of the six gold medals at stake in athletics including the 100-metre gold through Lao Yi.

Japanese Chisato Fukushimi claimed the women's short sprint in 11.33s, Kazakh Olga Tereshkova dashed Indian hopes in the women's 400 metres, and China made it a one-two in women's hammer. For India, after such a high on Sunday, when two gold medals and a silver accrued, quite surprisingly, a blank was very much on the cards and that is how it turned out.

Mandeep Kaur and Manjeet Kaur, who had the top two timings in Asia this season, 52.13s and 52.75s respectively, finished fourth and fifth in the women's 400 metres.

Woman hammer thrower Hardeep Kaur also finished outside the medals bracket, though this was not surprising and the Punjab woman did well to reach 60.54 which momentarily put her in bronze position.

Talking point

More than those who battled it out for the men's sprint title, the talking point on day two of the track and field programme was about the exit of world champion Youssef Saad Kamel from the 1500 metres heats, and those who did not make it to the starting blocks in the 100m final.

The shock exit of Kamel in the heats raised doubts about his fitness and brought into focus his problems with the Bahrain federation.

Kamel, the defending champion, finished last in a 10-man field in 3:58.80 and was placed 18th overall. Kamel said he had a knee injury and was being forced to run by his federation. It is no secret he had wanted to go back to his native Kenya where he goes by the name of Gregory Konchellah, son of former world champion Billy Konchella.

As for the men's 100 metres upsets, Japanese Masashi Eriguchi, the hot favourite, did not come through the semifinals, clocking 10.56s for a fifth-place finish in the second of the three heats.

Eriguchi leads the Asian charts this season with 10.16s, with Lao Yi at 10.21. Lao Yi timed 10.24s.

A bigger disaster struck the next heat when Asian record holder (9.99s) Samuel Francis of Qatar was disqualified for a false start. The Qatari of Nigerian origin held his head in disbelief. “I just can't accept it; it is unbelievable,” Francis would say later as he walked out through the mixed zone.

Japanese Yuzo Kanemaru, going out too fast on the first 200, was beaten by 19-year-old Qatari of Nigerian origin, Femi Ogunode, a tall youngster whose upright style did not give much hint about the speed he was generating. He clocked a personal best 45.12. Kanemaru who said he was not hundred per cent fit, timed 45.32.

In heptathlon, at the end of day one, Pramila Aiyappa was in a bronze position with a tally of 3204. Leader Yulia Tarasova of Uzbekistan had 3570 while Yuki Nakata of Japan had 3217. Susmita Singha Roy was trailing in fifth with 3043.

Bad day for India

Indian hopes in the women's 400 metres were dashed by the 200-metre mark. Manjeet and Mandeep looked completely off-colour. Tereshkova clocked 51.97, her first sub-52 since winning the World University Games title in Bangkok in 51.62s in 2007, her best so far.

Asami Chiba (nee Tanno), reigning Asian champion and bronze medallist behind Teresehkova and Manjeet in the Doha Games, claimed the silver medal in 52.68s. Mandeep's 52.99 for fourth, behind Maslenko (52.70), was only her sixth best this season. She has a personal best of 51.74s. Manjeet came in fifth at 53.27, her worst in four races this season.

With the Indians finishing behind two Kazakh medal winners in the individual 400 metres, the calculations for the longer relay will obviously need a review. H. M. Jyothi (11.98s) finished 16th and last in the semifinal summary while joint National record holder in men's 100m, Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (10.46s) finished overall 10th. Krishnakumar Rane (10.62s) was 16th.

Chatholi Hamza (3:46.68) and Sandeep Karan Singh (3:53.88) qualified for the 1500 metres final.

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