Foreign-born athletes star for Bahrain in Asian Games
Bahrain banked on the heroics of its foreign-born athletes to share the spotlight with host China in the 2010 Asian Games track and field competition on Tuesday 23 November.
World champion Maryam Jamal won the women's 1,500m in four minutes and 8.22 seconds. The Ethiopia-born runner, who won both the 800m and 1,500 at the 2006 Doha Asiad, dominated the race from the start.
She is now looking forward to duplicate her feat in Doha.
"I will compete in (Thursday's) 800m and I want to win another gold medal. I did it four years ago in Doha and I want to defend it for Bahrain and for me. I'm still the best in the world," Jamal told AFP.
Jamal and another Ethiopia-born Bahraini Mimi Belete Gebregeiorges set the pace throughout the race but the latter was overtaken by Vietnam's Hang Truong Thanh towards the finish to win the silver. Hang
clocked 4:09.58 while Gebregeiorges finished the race in 4:10.42 to settle for the bronze.
In the men's 3,000m steeplechase, Tareq Mubarak Salem Taher took gold in 8:25.89. The former Kenyan known as Dennis Kipkurui Keter crossed the finish line ahead of Kenya-born Thamer Kamal Ali of Qatar
(8:26.27) and Ali Ahmad S Alamri of Saudi Arabia (8:30.96) to successfully defend his title.
Bahrain was hoping to win another gold in the men's 1,500m but Belal Mansoor Belal Ali had to make do with a bronze with a time of 3:38.39. The Kenyan runner formerly known as John Yego finished behind
Saudi Arabia's Shaween Mohammed Othman H (3:36.49) and Iran's Sajad Moradi (3:37.09).
Ali was the Gulf state's brightest medal hope in the event after world champion Youssef Saad Kamel, another former Kenyan, failed to make the final.
China also won two golds on Tuesday. Liu Hong continued the country's dominance in the women's 20km walk, finishing the race in 1:30.06. Japan's Masumi Fuchise (1:30:34) and another Chinese Li Yanfei (1:32:34)
finished second and third, respectively.
Li Yanfeng won the women's discus throw with a 66.18m effort. Song Aimin made it a one-two finish for the host nation with a 64.04m throw while India's Krishna Poonia settled for the bronze in 61.94m.
Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim won the men's high jump after clearing 2.27m. Japan's Hiromi Takahari settled for the silver in 2.23m while another Qatari Rashidahmed Mannai Al took bronze in 2.19m.
The women's long jump was won by South Korean Jung Soo-nok, who made a best leap of 6.53m. Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan settled for the silver medal with a 6.50m effort while Yuliya Tarasova of Uzbekistan
won the bronze in 6.49m.
It was Tarasova's second medal for the day as she also won the heptathlon event. She amassed 5783 points to finish ahead of Japan's Yuki Nakata (5606) and Indian Pramila Ganapathy Gudandda (5415).
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