By Sevket F. ERBAY
The Asian Indoors have returned to China after 12 years, with the host nation dominating sprint-related contests in the three-day event. China has won 35 medals in total - by far the most in history.
The national 100 metres champion Deng Xinrui secured his first international crown in front of home crowd. The 22-year-old from Guangzhou stormed into the final with a blistering 6.56 before he concluded the job in 6.59 by defeating Taipei’s Chen Wen Pu in a slim margin. Deng’s victory brought China its first men’s 60 metres victory since 2006.
In the absence of two-time defending champion Farzaneh Fasihi of Iran, Jialu Xu led the Chinese dominance in the 60 metres women’s final. Xu clocked a personal best (7.28) by beating her counterparts, Liao Yan Jun and Xiajun Liu. These triple happened only the sixth time in Asian Indoor history and just the second in the event after Thailand’s feat twenty years ago in Pattaya City.
However, the Chinese “treble” was not limited to women 60 metres. Men’s triple jump and women’s shot put podiums were also covered in red after the host nation athletes' successes.
SHANKAR BROKE HIS BAD LUCK
India’s Tejaswin Shankar has finally secured a continental gold after three Asian-level podium finishes in recent years. The 28-year-old decathlete scored 5993 points, breaking his own national record by 343 points! Shankar also broke Dmitry Karpov’s 5928-pts championship mark from 2012.
China’s Chengyu Chen denied Tajinder Pal Toor’s third Asian Indoor crown by only two centimetres in a nail-biting final. Chen put a massive 20.07 in the final attempt, which catapulcted him to glory from third place, establishing yet another championship record. The top Asian shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor came second with 20.05 metres, which was also farther than his previous championship record.
TANAKA & OBIENA SHINES
Japan’s distance star Nozomi Tanaka secured a title in the 1500 metres, defeating a Chinese rival by 0.39 seconds; however, she lost the 3000 metres to Kenyan-born Kazakh Norah Jeruto after a two-way battle. Like Tanaka, another world-renowned Asian star, Ernest Obiena claimed his first continental indoor crown with a 5.70m effort. The former world medallist Obiena now has three Asian outdoor titles, plus Asian Games and indoor victories.
Qatar’s Bassem Hemeida returned home with two gold medals from Tianjin. The Egyptian-born Qatari hurdler clocked 47.27 in the 400 metres final and helped his team’s relay victory the very next day. The Qataris reclaimed their 4x4 title from Kazakhstan, which had won the baton race in the last two editions.
