Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...
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Current standings:
1-Waseda
2-Toyo
3-Chuo Gakuin
4-Meiji
5-Nihon
6-Komazawa
7-Tokai
Looks like Tokai will catch Komazawa.
200 m to go - Hiraga is safe. Yusuke Mita, one of Waseda's best guys, is next.
Meiji 3rd, 13 sec behind Toyo
Nihon 4th 14 sec behind Meiji
Chuo Gakuin 5th another 25 sec back
Tokai rounds out seeded bracket. Daichi Kogyo 7th just back from Tokai. Tokyo Nogyo and Yamanashi Gakuin in range too.
5th Stage - 11.6 km.
Aces: Mita (Waseda) and Chiba (Toyo) - currently 1-2. Both were great in Hakone this year.
Looks like Meiji's Yasuda is catching up to Mita. Mita running 3:00 pace even.
Nihon's Taniguchi moving up on Toyo's Chiba. Daiichi Kogyo likewise making up ground on Tokai for the last seeded spot.
Tokai takes Chuo Gakuin for 5th.
Taniguchi actually doesn't look very good, but if he and the 6th/7th leg guys hold his current position they've got it once Kenyan Gitau runs the anchor stage.
Taniguchi to 2nd.
Aces: Takabayashi (Komazawa), Marubayashi (Nihon)
1. Meiji
2. Nihon +34 sec
3. Waseda +22 sec
4. Toyo +30 sec
5. Tokai +7 sec
6. Daiichi Kogyo +45 sec
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7. Chuo Gakuin +2 sec
8. Yamanashi Gakuin + 20 sec
Takabayashi takes Tokyo Nogyo's Takayama for 10th.
Nihon has made up 7 sec on Meiji's lead.
Komazawa's Takabayashi 8:26 through 3 km.
Takabayashi 14:21 through 5k, Komazawa in 10th. Marubayashi losing ground to Watanabe - Nihon now 46 sec behind Meiji.
Takabayashi takes Chuo for 8th. About to take Chuo Gakuin too. Yamanashi Gakuin in 6th is in sight but probably not in range with just over 2 km left.
Waseda's runner is Kanzawa - my mistake.
Komazawa's Takabayashi into 7th past Chuo Gakuin - coach Oyagi is yelling at Takabayashi to take Yamanashi Gakuin. No chance, though.
7th stage: 11.9 km
Aces: Yokoyama (Aoyama Gakuin)
2. Toyo +1:04
3. Nihon +0:09
4. Waseda +0:05
5. Tokai +0:55
6. Yamanashi Gakuin +0:05
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7. Komazawa +0:33
8. Chuo Gakuin +0:25
9. Chuo +0:13
It's worth nothing that Nittai Univ. is not here because they could not run the qualifying race in June due to the ridiculous marijuana suspension scandal last spring.
Aoyama Gakuin's Yokoyama looking good - tryng to beat their seed of 15th.
Waseda's Maeda has completely fallen away from Nihon's Yokomatsu.
Aces:
Fukatsu (Komazawa)
Ozaki (Waseda)
Nakagawa (Yamanashi Gakuin)
Gitau (Nihon)
2. Toyo +1:04
3. Nihon +0:49
4. Waseda +0:32
5. Yamanashi Gakuin +0:28
6. Tokai +0:16
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7. Komazawa +0:04
8. Chuo +0:30
9. Chuo Gakuin +0:06
Daiichi Kogyo's anchor Kenyan Kariru is moving up from 10th.
Fukatsu into 5th.
Ozaki (Waseda) another 43 sec back in 4th.
Nakagawa has dropped Fukatsu. Chuo Gakuin's Kobayashi about 26 seconds behind Fukatsu - he might make 6th.
Waseda's Ozaki in big trouble in 4th - about to be caught by Yamanashi Gakuin's Nakagawa. Ozaki is holding his left side.
Toyo's Otsu in sight of 2nd place Meiji's Hosokawa with 3.5 km to go.
Toyo's anchor Otsu was the one who really broke Waseda in Hakone this year to make sure Toyo won.
Toyo 2nd in 5:24:39.
Meiji 3rd in 5:24:52 without top member Matsumoto (points to Mika for picking them)
5th - Yamanashi Gakuin - 5:26:05
6th - Chuo does it! - 5:26:26
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7th - Komazawa
8th - Chuo Gakuin
9th - Tokai
...and that's all she wrote.
I didn't realize Japan Running News has a twitter feed? If so will you put the address up?