Ushiro Gold, Niiya Silver - Day Three of Asian Athletics Championships

Windier conditions throughout day three of the Doha Asian Athletics Championships made for a tougher day than the previous one, but there were still good performances across the board with one world-leading time, four that tied or bettered championships records, and three new national records.

The Chinese women led the way with a 42.87 in the 4x100 m relay, a new championships record and the fastest time in the world so far this year. In the absence of a Japanese team the Chinese men also took the 4x100, running it in 38.88 before being disqualified to elevate Thailand to gold. A new championships record also came in the women's 200 m, with Salwa Naser of Bahrain leading the qualifiers at 22.84 +0.6.

The other two championships record-breaking times came in the women's 10000 m. Reliving their duels at the 2012 London Olympics and 2013 Moscow World Championships, Japan's Hitomi Niiya led almost the entire way with Ethiopian-born Bahraini Shitaye Habtegebrel right on her heels, both well under pace for the 31:52.29 Asian Athletics Championships record and both lapping eventual bronze medalist Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav of India.

Habtegebrel made one move to the front mid-race but Niiya was quick to move back in front. Then, after Niiya slowed to 3:10 at 8000 m, Habtegebrel made her move. Taking off with three laps to go she pulled away to win in 31:15. 62, taking almost 37 seconds off the record. A gutted Niiya was next in 31:22.63, 30 seconds under the old record but disappointed at losing to Habtegebrel. In London Habtegebrel did the same. The last time they met in Moscow Niiya held her off. The next time they meet will probably be back in Doha this fall.

Bettering Niiya's silver, Keisuke Ushiro took gold in the decathlon by 34 points over Kuwait's Majed Alzaid. Despite a strong run in the 1500 m Akihiko Nakamura came up 1 point short of catching Alzaid and was consigned to the bronze medal position, the first event so far at this Asian Athletics Championships where Japan has scored two medals. Yuki Yamasaki missed adding a bronze in the heptathlon, landing 4th at 76 points out of the medals.

Japan's only other medal of the day came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, where it was a distant bronze behind Bahrain and India. Qualifying action for the final day of the Championships was promising, with Ayako Kimura and Masumi Aoki standing at 1st and 3rd among qualifiers for the women's 100 m hurdles, Yuki Koike at 2nd in the men's 200 m final, and Yuki Hashioka 2nd in the men's long jump. Taio Kanai and Shunya Takayama are also positioned 4th and 5th in the men's 110 m hurdles, and both Kazuyoshi Tamogami and Ryoji Tatezawa, captain of 2019 Hakone Ekiden winner Tokai University, made the final in the men's 1500 m. The Asian Athletics Championships wrap up Wednesday.

23rd Asian Athletics Championships

Day Three Results
Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar, 4/23/19
complete results

Finals

Women's 10000 m Final
1. Shitaye Habtegebrel (Bahrain) - 31:15.62 - CR
2. Hitomi Niiya (Japan) - 31:22.63 (CR)
3. Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav (India) - 32:44.96
4. Yu Yu Xia (China) - 33:02.31
5. Suel Ki An (South Korea) - 33:13.17
6. Yuka Hori (Japan) - 33:15.65
7. Deshun Zhang (China) - 34:09.63

Women's 3000 m Steeplechase Final
1. Winfred Mutile Yavi (Bahrain) - 9:46.18
2. Shuang Shuang Xu (China) - 9:51.76
3. Tigest Mekonen (Bahrain) - 9:53.96
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6. Yukari Ishizawa (Japan) - 10:06.55
10. Yui Yabuta (Japan) - 10:14.00
11. Tatyana Neroznak (Kazakhstan) - 10:25.56 - NR

Women's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. China - 42.87 - WL, CR
2. Kazakhstan - 43.36
3. Bahrain - 43.61
4. India - 43.81
5. Thailand - 43.99
6. Japan - 44.95
7. Singapore - 45.78

Men's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Thailand - 38.99
2. Taiwan - 39.18
3. Oman - 39.36 - NR
4. Saudi Arabia - 39.52
5. Hong Kong - 39.91
6. Philippines - 40.10
DQ - China

Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Bahrain - 3:15.75
2. India - 3:16.47
3. Japan - 3:20.29
4. Kazakhstan - 3:20.73
5. China - 3:21.51
6. Tajikistan - 3:27.35

Women's Pole Vault Final
1. Ling Li (China) - 4.61 m
2. Hui Qin Xu (China) - 4.36 m
3.Natalie Rosa Ijy (Philippines) - 4.20 m
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5. Rena Tanaka (Japan) - 4.00 m

Women's High Jump Final
1. Nadezhda Dusanova (Uzbekistan) - 1.90 m
2. Nadezhda Dubovitskaya (Kazakhstan) - 1.88 m
3. Svetlana Radizivil (Uzbekistan) - 1.88 m
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5. Shieriai Tsuda (Japan) - 1.75 m
9. Haruka Nakano (Japan) - 1.75 m

Women's Triple Jump Final
1. Parinya Chuaimaroeng (Thailand) - 13.72 m -1.5 m/s
2. Rui Zeng (China) - 13.65 m +1.2 m/s
3. VL Heenatimullage (Sri Lanka) - 13.53 m +0.9 m/s
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8. Kaede Miyasaka (Japan) - 12.95 m +1.6 m/s

Heptathlon
1. Ekaterina Vornina (Uzbekistan) - 6198
2. Swapna Barman (India) - 5993
3. Qing Ling Wang (China) - 5829
-----
4. Yuki Yamasaki (Japan) - 5753

Decathlon
1. Keisuke Ushiro (Japan) - 7872
2. Majed Alzaid (Kuwait) - 7838
3. Akihiko Nakamura (Japan) - 7837

Qualifying Rounds

Women's 200 m Final Qualifiers
Salwa Naser (Bahrain) - 22.84 +0.6 m/s - CR tie
Olga Safronova (Kazakhstan) - 22.98 +0.8 m/s
Dufee Chand (India) - 23.33 +2.3 m/s
Nigina Sharipova (Uzbekistan) - 23.43 +0.6 m/s
Man Qi Ge (China) - 23.46 +1.0 m/s
Ling Wei Kong (China) - 23.51 +2.3 m/s
Edidiong Odiong (Bahrain) - 23.53 +1.0 m/s
Anna Bulanova (Kyrgyzstan) - 23.55 +1.0 m/s

Men's 200 m Final Qualifiers
Zhen Ya Xie (China) - 20.35 +1.3 m/s
Yuki Koike (Japan) - 20.60 +1.3 m/s
Femi Seun Ogunode (Qatar) - 20.63 +1.3 m/s
Yaqoob Salem (Bahrain) - 20.71 +1.3 m/s
Fahhad Mohammed Al Subaie (Saudi Arabia) - 20.76 +0.7 m/s
Sueng Hwan Ko (South Korea) - 20.81 +0.7 m/s
Mohamed Al-Sadi (Oman) - 20.86 +1.3 m/s
Nouraddine Hadid (Lebanon) - 21.04 +1.3 m/s

Men's 1500 m Final Qualifiers
Mohamed Ayoub Tiouali (Bahrain) - 3:49.14
Ajay Kumar Saroj (India) - 3:49.20
Muhand Khamis Saifeldin (Qatar) - 3:49.24
Musulman Dzholomanov (Kyrgyzstan) - 3:49.29
Ryoji Tatezawa (Japan) - 3:49.31
Amir Moradi (Iran) - 3:49.43
Musaab Ali (Qatar) - 3:49.57
Awwad Alsharafa (Jordan) - 3:52.94
Abraham Kipchirchir Rotich (Bahrain) - 3:55.61
Moslem Nadoost (Iran) - 3:55.93
Kazuyoshi Tamogami (Japan) - 3:55.95
DHR Aprachchige (Sri Lanka) - 3:56.69

Women's 100 m Hurdles Final Qualifiers
Ayako Kimura (Japan) - 13.19 +1.9 m/s
Jia Min Chen (China) - 13.30 +1.3 m/s
Masumi Aoki (Japan) - 13.31 +1.3 m/s
Lai Yiu Lui (Hong Kong) - 13.35 +1.9 m/s
His-En Hsieh (Taiwan) - 13.39 +1.3 m/s
Hye Lim Jung (South Korea) - 13.46 +1.3 m/s
Yan Ni We (China) - 13.52 +1.9 m/s
Aygerim Shynazbekova (Kazakhstan) - 13.60 +1.3 m/s

Men's 110 m Hurdles Final Qualifiers
Wen Jun Xie (China) - 13.47 +1.6 m/s
Yaqoub Alyouha (Kuwait) - 13.49 +2.1 m/s
Kuei-Ru Chen (Taiwan) - 13.61 +1.6 m/s
Taio Kanai (Japan) - 13.67 +2.1 m/s
Shunya Takayama (Japan) - 13.69 +1.0 m/s
Jian Hang Zeng (China) - 13.69 +2.1 m/s
Ching Young Mu (Hong Kong) - 13.88 +1.0 m/s
David Yefremov (Kazakhstan) - 13.88 +1.0 m/s

Men's Long Jump Final Qualifiers
Yao Guang Zhang (China) - 7.86 m +1.3 m/s
Yuki Hashioka (Japan) - 7.81 m +0.2 m/s
Chang Zhou Huang (China) - 7.78 m +0.4 m/s
Chia-Hsing Lin (Taiwan) - 7.77 m +3.0 m/s
S Sapwaturrahman (Indonesia) - 7.72 m +0.3 m/s
Shotaro Shiroyama (Japan) - 7.72 m +1.1 m/s
Mohammad Amin Al Salami (Syria) - 7.63 m +1.6 m/s - NR
Andre Anura (Malaysia) - 7.58 m +0.3 m/s
DAJ Wimalasiri (Sri Lanka) - 7.57 m +0.0 m/s
DPG Kankanam (Sri Lanka) - 7.53 m +2.9 ms
Hung-Min Lin (Taiwan) - 7.52 m +1.6 m/s
Nikita Loginov (Uzbekistan) - 7.47 m +1.7 m/s

Men's Hammer Throw Final Qualifiers
Ashraf Amgad El-Seify (Qatar) - 74.92 m
Dilshod Nazarov (Tajikistan) - 71.46 m
Ywun Chul Lee (South Korea) - 69.67 m
Mergen Mammedov (Turkmenistan) - 69.62 m
Sukhrob Hodjayev (Uzbekistan) - 69.62 m
Shi Zhu Wang (China) - 68.21 m
Ali Zankawi (Kuwait) - 68.20 m
Kun Guo (China) - 66.81 m
Ahmed El-Sify (Qatar) - 65.54 m
Jackie Wong Siew Cheer (Malaysia) - 65.33 m
Kunihiro Sumi (Japan) - 65.28 m
Amanmyrat Hommadov (Turkmenistan) - 63.41 m

text and photos © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved