Al Safaar Jamal, Susanthika
emerge fastest

Susanthika Jayasinghe lifted the spirits of the Sri Lankan camp by winning the women's 100 metres sprint with elan and fetching the first gold for the hosts in the 14th Asian Athletics Championships at the Sugathadasa stadium in Colombo on Saturday.

Her timing of 11.29 seconds was short of her personal best of 11.08, recorded at the recent Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Later, she blamed the schedule, which gave her barely 40 minutes to prepare for the final, for her failure to better the Commonwealth performance.

"I didn't know about the event till 4.00 pm," she said.

Qin Wangping of China and Lyubov Perepelove of Uzbekistan won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The late announcement of the event gave her only 15 minutes to warm-up, the 21-year-old Jayasinghe said, promising to also win the 200 metres final on Sunday.

Though thrilled at winning the 100 metres in front of her home crowd, Jayasinghe was concerned that she could not erase the championship record of 11.26 second, which stands in the name Cui Danfeng since 1995.

The men's short sprint saw a neat show by the 31-year-old Al Safaar Jamal of Saudi Arabia, who emerged tops a 10.43 seconds dash. He finished just ahead of Gennadiy Chernovol of Kazakhstan (10.50 seconds) and another Saudi sprinter, Al Yami Salem, who won the bronze in 10.52 seconds.

Koji Murofushi of Japan set a new championship record in the men's hammer throw while compatriot Eiichi Yoshizawa bagged the gold in the 20 km walk for men.

Murofushi, 28, the silver medallist at the last World Championships, swung the hammer to a record distance of 80.45 metres in his third throw, and his 24-year-old fellow countryman Hiroaki Doi reached 70.27 metres in his sixth and last attempt to earn the silver.

Viktor Ustinov of Uzbekistan was not far behind at 69.25 metres to win the bronze medal.

India's Nirbhaty Singh finished ninth and last, with a maximum of just 59.32 metres.

The day, however, did hold some cheer for India, as Bobby Aloysius put the disappointment of missing out on a medal at the Commonwealth Games behind her to grab a silver in the women's high jump. Tatiana Effimenko of Kyrgysztan, with an effort of 1.92 metres claimed the gold. Aloysius cleared 1.84 metres while Marina Korzhova of Kazakastan took the bronze, also clearing 1.84 metres.

India's J J Shobha also did exceedingly well to win a silver in the heptathlon. It was her first medal at the international level. She went into the final event of the event, the 800 metres, with a 62-point lead but failed to hold on to it. Sevtlana Kazanina of Kazakhstan, with 5841 points, won the gold. Shobha finished with 5775 points and China's Wang Hailan, with 5635 points, took the bronze.

L. Aruna Devi added to the Indian medal tally by winning the bronze in the women's 10,000 metres. She clocked 35:38.70 second, finishing behind South Korea's Ham Pong Sil, who won the gold in 34:44.92 seconds, and Jo Pun Hui, who took the silver with a time of 35:00.63 seconds.

In the men's 20 km walk, the 22-year-old Yoshizawa crossed the finishing line with a timing of 1:26.51 seconds nearly five minutes slower than his personal best.

Compatriot Toshihito Fujinohara walked in 75 seconds later to win the silver at 1:28.06 seconds. Korea's Shin Il Yong won the bronze.

India's Gurdev Singh was fourth with a timing of 1:32.53 seconds.