Kazakhs win three golds in Asian Games athletics
Kazakhstan claimed three of the 11 gold medals at stake in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games athletics competition on Thursday.
Olga Rypakova won the women's triple jump; Margarita Matsko ruled the women's 800m; while Dmitriy Karpov triumphed in the decathlon.
Rypakova, who earlier took the silver in the long jump, made a best leap of 14.78m. Defending champion Xie Limei of China settled for the silver in 14.18m while Thailand's Thitima Muangjan claimed the
bronze in 13.85m.
Matsko ran a personal best 2:00.29 to win her favourite event. She crossed the finish line just ahead of Vietnamese Truong Thanh Hang (2:00.91) and Indian Tintu Lukka (2:01.36).
Karpov maintained his lead to win the decathlon gold with 8026 points. He won the discus throw and pole vault to solidify his grip of the top spot. South Korea's Kim Kun-woo placed second with 7808 points
while Vietnam's Vu Van Huyen claimed the bronze with a 7755 final tally.
Japan also had a productive performance on Thursday with Chisato Fukushima winning the women's 200m final and Yuki Ebihara topping the women's javelin throw.
Fukushima posted a winning time of 23.62 seconds to complete a sprint double following her victory in the 100m on Monday. Vu Thi Huong of Vietnam won the silver in 23.74 while Uzbekistan's Guzel Khubbieva
took the bronze in 23.87.
"I think I've finally achieved something after winning both of my individual races. I felt like my feet weren't really moving late in the (200) race. I guess I was tired, but so was everyone else, fortunately,"
Fukushima told Kyodo News.
The 22-year-old Fukushima is the first Japanese woman to win both the 100m and 200m golds in the history of the Asian Games. She will gun for a third gold medal in tomorrow's 4x100m relay.
Ebihara, who won a bronze four years ago in Doha, posted a new Japanese record 61.56m on her sixth and final throw to win the javelin crown. She was the first Japanese woman to win the Asiad javelin gold
since Emi Matsui at the 1982 New Delhi Games.
China's Xue Juan (58.72m) and Li Lingwei (57.51m) settled for the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
India also produced two golds courtesy of 400m hurdlers Joseph Ganapathiplackal Abraham and Akkunji Ashwini Chidananda.
Abraham topped the men's race in a personal best 49.96. Saudi Arabia's Bandar Yahya H Sharahili settled for the silver in 50.29 while Japanese Naohiro Kawakita took the bronze in 50.37.
In the women's race, Chidananda also posted a personal best time of 56.15 to win the event. She edged China's Wang Xing (56.76) and Japan's Satomi Kubokura (56.83) towards the finish line.
South Korea's Lee Yeon-kyung won the women's 100m hurdles in 13.23. Kazakhstan's Natalya Ivoninskaya (13.24) finished second while local bet Sun Yawei (13.27) came in third.
China's lone gold of the day came from the men's 50km walk. Si Tianfeng finished the race in 3:47:04, just ahead of compatriot Li Lei (3:47.34) and Japanese Koichiro Morioka (3:47.41).
Sajad Moradi of Iran won the men's 800m in 1:45.45. Iraq's Adnan Almntfage (1:45.88) claimed the silver while Qatar's Musaab Abdelrahman Bala (1:46.19) pocketed the bronze.
Qatar's Femi Seun Ogunode achieved a double by ruling the men's 200m race. The Nigeria-born runner, who earlier won gold in the 400m, posted a personal best 20.43. Kenji Fujimitsu of Japan finished second
in 20.74 while Omar Juma Alsalfa of the United Arab Emirates placed third in 20.83.
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