Tehran (Iran) – 18 FEB 2024:
As expected the Iranian sprinter Fasihi Farzaneh retained her title in the women’s 60m dash. A winner from the last edition in Astana, Fasihi sent an early warning suggesting it would not be easy to tackle her by leading the qualifiers to the final with an emphatic 7.31 secs to win her heat.
In the finals, she shot out first to leave her compatriots behind to win in 7.20 secs eventually equaling the championship record held in the name Liang Xiaojing of China since the 2018 edition registered in the same venue.
Olga Safronova, the Kazakh athlete who finished second behind Fasihi in Astana, replicated the same act here too. Running in her maiden indoor race, Thailand’s Supanich Poolkerd took the bronze medal.
Yelizaveta wins close battle from Yuqi in High Jump:
Age took a toll on the two-time Asian indoor champion and record-holder Svetlana Radzivil (Uzbekistan), it was a battle between two Chinese jumpers and Yelizaveta for the top prize here.
Matveyeva Yelizaveta from Kazakhstan together with Shao Yuqi and Lu Jiawen as also Sayfulleva Barnokhon started the campaign at 1.70m. Yelizaveta struggled to clear the next height (1.75m) in her first attempt which the other three sailed over easily. When the bar was raised to 1.80m, Yuqi took two attempts while the others had comfortable clearances. In 1.83m, Barnokhon bowed out and Jiawen knocked the bar for the first time.
The medals were decided at 1.86m. Jiawen bowed out to get the bronze position. Yelizaveta cleared the height on her second attempt while Yuqi did it on the third. Both the athletes went down in 1.89m which leaves Yuilizaveta the campion status ahead of Yuqi.
It was the fourth title for Kazakhstan in this event after Marina Aitova (2006 and 2010) and Nadezhda Dubovitskaya (2023).
Jie, Rui brought Chinese 1-2 in triple jump:
China’s Xie Limei won the inaugural Asian indoor title in the triple jump in 2004. Liu Yanan (2010) and Xie Limei (2012) claimed victories thereafter. However, athletes from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan used to take the top spots on all other occasions.
The absence of defending champion Sharifa Davronova (Uzbekistan) paved the way for the Chinese duo of Zeng Rui and Chen Jie to spring into action this time.
Rui, the 2023 Asian Games silver medalist, commenced with 13.61m in her first round, a mark that remained her best throughout the series. Jie and Kazkhstan’s Mariya Yefremova (nee Ovchinnikova), the 2017 Asian Champion, logged ‘No Marks’ against them in their initial round.
In the second round, Jie leaped 13.63m while Mariya did 13.48m. These marks turned out to be their best on the day and decided on the medals thereafter.
Japan, the medal topper in the last edition of the championships in Astana, got the first gold medal in the ongoing championships here through their quarter-miler Nanako Matsumoto. She won the women’s 400m in 55.14 secs ahead of local stars Nazanin Fatemeh Eidian (55.33s) and Kazhan Rostami (55.35s).
Sajad Aghaei won the men’s race in 47.95 secs to fetch the second gold of the day to Iran.
From the preliminary rounds, Sobhan Ahmadi (Iran) led the 800m qualifiers (1:48.10) slightly ahead of Qatar’s Abubaker Haydar Abdalla. Omani sprinter Ali Anwar Al-Balushi led the finalists to the 60m by clocking 6.50 secs to win his semis, while Japan’s Shuhei Tada took the other heat in 6.53 secs.
A keen contest in the vaulting field:
In an interesting contest on the field, Saudi Arabia’s defending champion Hussain Asiam Al-Hizam locked into a battle with Patsapong Unsumang from Thailand together with Qatari Seifeldin Mohamed Abdelsalam–the podium finishers in Astana–and also the Chinese duo of Song Haoyang and Zhong Tao in Pole Vault.
Barring Seifeldin, who commenced his campaign in 5.15m, the rest of them opened at the height of 5.25m. The Thai vaulter, a bronze medalist in Astana, lost his grip in 5.55m and was knocked out. Tao, the 2017 Asian Youth Champion, was the first to scale 5.60m–that equaled his indoor best. Tao’s teammate Haoyang too made it on his second try. Seifeldin and Al-Hizam then tried their luck to pass this height after a few failures.
Traded his only chance at 5.65m, Seifeldin bowed out after a non-clearance. The remaining three–Tao, Haoyang and Al-Hizam–also failed in their first attempt. Tao made it on his second try. However, Al-Hizam missed his only chance left out. Haoyang knocks the bar the third time, which assures Tao of the gold. Haoyang and Al-Hizam got silver and bronze medals respectively.
Then Tao went on to try at 5.70m but was unsuccessful in all his three attempts. Incidentally, he holds a personal best of 5.72m which he set last year in Hangzhou during the Chinese Athletics Street Tour.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for Asian Athletics
