By a correspondent
Qatar’s three-time World champion Mutaz Essa Barshim, India’s Olympic and World champion Neeraj Chopra and World silver medallist Philippine’s EJ Obiena were among the star attractions, as popular as the top Chinese stars including women’s shot put champion Lijiao Gong and discus throw winner Feng Bin, as they vowed the spectators at the Hangzhou Olympic Stadium with their charisma and class at the 19th Asian Games as athletics underlined its status as the blue-riband event.
Barshim, sporting his favourite shades, was the rockstar performer as he left his Asian rivals gasping for breath at the rarefied heights in men’s high jump. The Qatari’s starting height was 2.19m and he had company till the bar was raised to 2.31m. Japan’s Shinno Tomohiro stumbled first, leaving the arena with the bronze and the battle was now between Barshim and Diamond League Final winner Woo Sanghyeo of South Korea. Woo failed to clear 2.35m on his first two attempts even as Barshim sailed over it with ease. Woo then skipped his last chance at the same height and instead attempted 2.37m. And as it turned out Woo was unable to steer clear of 2.37 too.
The fans who packed the stadium were now up on their feet, backing Barshim to improve his own record from 2018, but as it turned out, the bar would not stay for the few extra seconds as it followed Barshim to the mat even as the technical official changed the colour of his flag from white to red in quick succession.
Chopra was another hot property with the Chinese fans, as they showered him with caps, T-shirts, stoles hunting for an autograph, as the Indian took a victory lap around the stadium with his teammate Kishore Kumar Jena who bagged the silver medal.
Chopra’s first throw in the men’s javelin throw final, which landed a few metres after the 85m mark, couldn’t be measured due to a technical glitch, but he was not to be disturbed. The Indian regained his poise but faced stiff challenge from his teammate in the absence of Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who pulled out on the eve of the contest with an injury. Jena surprised his idol with a personal best effort of 87.54m but Chopra responded to the challenge with his season’s best throw of 88.88m that secured his No. 1 spot in the Games.
All the three medallists in the men’s pole vault came from the school of Russian master Vitaly Petrov who guides them at the World Pole Vault Centre in Formia, Italy. Obiena won the gold with a new Asian Games record of 5.90m while China’s Bokai Huang and Hussain al Hizam of Saudi Arabia ended with silver and bronze respectively. Huang bagged the second spot on countback after both cleared 5.65m.
Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya was another stand-out performer as she won four gold medals in women’s 400m, 400m hurdles, mixed 4x400m relay and women’s 4x400m relay. Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba also showed his class by taking the men’s 400m hurdles gold.
The Chinese, meanwhile, extended their domination, which began in 1986, as they won 19 of the 48 gold medals which were on offer. The hosts’ charge was led by Lijiao who helped the hosts win their 12th consecutive gold in women’s shot put and discus thrower Feng who was unbeatable in women’s discus throw. Bahrain came second with 10 gold medals followed by India (6). ….eom
