Yecheon – 6 June 2023:
The third day’s proceedings in the ongoing Asian U20 championships saw a meet mark in 400m hurdles fell in the hands of yet another Qatari athlete. Doudai Ismail Abakar accounted for the second championship record as his teammate Seifeldin did in the pole vault on the opening day.
Success came after some sticky situations as the hurdler suffered a setback in his first major global competition, the 18th World Athletics U20 championships in Nairobi two years ago where he was disqualified due to a false start. Hard work paid its dividends as he tasted a notable victory in the Arab Junior Championships Rades, Tunisia, the following year. A rejuvenated Abakar went to take part in the World U20 championships in Cali, Colombia, thereafter. During the above championships, the Qatari hurdler finished a credible fifth in the final after clocking a good quality 49.48 secs in the semis.
2023 turned out to be a glorious year for this young man’s career as Abakar successfully crowned the West Asian champion ‘at home’ in Doha in April. In the same venue, he won the Race-B in Doha Diamond League on May 5 with a personal best of 49.18 secs.
After winning his qualifying heats with a modest 52.30 secs on Monday morning, Abakar drawn on the fifth lane reacted quickly to take the lead and increased pace midway. Japan’s national junior champion Konno Ryoma on lane four gave a stiff challenge before allowing the Qatari to move ahead on the home straight. Abakar clocked an impressive 49.30 secs, the second best in his career that shattered Saudi Arabian Ibrahim Al-Hamaidi’s 19-year-old championship record into oblivion. Ryoma posted a personal best 49.91 secs for the silver.
Sunil ousted Nodir for a Decathlon gold
It was indeed a memorable moment in Indian decathlete Sunil Kumar’s life. After trailing considerably while completing the first day’s events, Sunil (19) only hopes for a medal and not the top finish on the podium. However, he started delivering better performances in 110m hurdles (14.78 secs), discus throw (38.79m) and javelin throw (52.69m) than his compatriots to climb on the winning ladder rapidly to snatch the gold with 7,003 points. Incidentally, it was the second-best performance by an Indian junior in the decathlon behind Dileep Kumar’s national record 7,020 pts from 2012. Nodir Norbaev, Uzbekistan’s Asian U18 champion from last year, finished a close second with 6.956 pts today.
China vs Japan vs Uzbekistan
A major portion of the titles decided on the third day have been split amongst China, Japan and Uzbekistan. In fact, China started victorious through race walker Bao Xingzu in the morning. Pole vaulter Wei Lingxia and the sprint relay quartet added women’s power to victory for China. Kana Mizumoto timed a brilliant 9:16.93 to win the women’s 3,000m while Japan added another heart-warming win in the men’s 4 x 100m relay in 39.76 secs.
Amazingly the day was dominated by Uzbek athletes. High jumper Barnokhon Saifullaeva was another Asian youth champion from Kuwait-2022 to graduate to the Junior podium in Yecheon. The reigning Asian U18 champion from Tashkent, India’s Pooja, finished second today after improving her PB to 1.82m. Pinning their hopes mainly on technical events, Uzbek athletes added further feathers through triple jumper Khushnoza Shavkatova and steeplechaser Dilshoda Usmonova. In the 3,000m steeplechase, Usmonova brought the first gold to Uzbekistan by posting a career-best 10:22.41, well ahead of Kazakhstan’s Akbilek Kuralbay (10:35.44).
Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
