Sato and Aoki Win Silver, Tanaka Bronze After Hurdle Controversy - Hangzhou Asian Games Athletics Day 2 and 3 Highlights

 

After three days of athletics competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games Japan has yet to score gold, but its haul of silver and bronze medals more than doubled over the course of the two days. Men's 400 m NR holder Kentaro Sato took silver Saturday, starting slow as Fuga Sato did the leading in the first half of the race, then reeling in the competition over the last 120 m. Asian record holder Yousef Ahmed Masrahi of Saudi Arabia got away from him, just, winning gold in 45.55 with Sato in 45.57. Bahraini Abbas Yusuf Ali knocked Fuga Sato off the podium with a PB 45.65, Fuga 4th in 45.70.

It took til Sunday night for the next medal to land, with Ryoma Aoki and Seiya Sunada going 2-3 in the men's 3000 m steeplechase. Favorite Avinash Mukund Sable of India took it out fast with a 2:40.97 first 1000 m, too fast to sustain but enough to set put him far out front for most of the race. Sable led at 2000 m with 5:27.48 before starting to fade, giving Aoki hope as he closed hard over the last lap. But even though he slowed almost to a walk before crossing the finish line Sable still won gold in an Asian Games record 8:19.50. Aoki was just off the old record at 8:23.75 for silver, with Sunada a short ways back in 8:26.47 for bronze after running down a Qatari athlete after the final water jump.

The last medal of Day 3 came with some confusion and controversy. In the women's 100 mH China's Yanni Wu had a false start and was shown a red card. India's Jyothi Yarraji was also shown a red card and protested as replays clearly showed Wu being the initial false starter. Officials allowed both women to run, China's Yuwei Lin 1st in a PB 12.74 (-0.0), Wu next, Yarraji 3rd in 12.91, and Japan's Yumi Tanaka 4th in 13.04. Despite the protest situation officials allowed Wu to do a home soil celebration lap with the Chinese flag, then disqualified her. Yarraji was upgraded to silver and Tanaka bumped up to bronze, but the officials' actions robbed Tanaka of the chance to face the live Japanese TV broadcast as a medalist in her post-race interview.

In other finals:

• Ryota Kashimura finished 7 cm out of the medals in the men's hammer throw. China's Qi Wang won gold at 72.97 m, Qatar's Ashraf Elseify silver at 72.42 m and Uzbekistan's Sukhrob Khodjaev bronze at 70.79 m. Kashimura threw 70.72 for 4th, with Shota Fukuda 6th at 68.74 m.
• Asian Games men's pole vault record holder Seito Yamamoto failed to clear his opening height and recorded a NM. Asian record holder Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines followed up his World Championships silver with the gold medal here, setting a new Games record of 5.90 m. China's Bokai Huang won silver at 5.65 m and Saudi Arabia's Hussain Al Hizam bronze, also at 5.65 m.
• Ren Tazawa and Kazuya Shiojiri did most of the work in the men's 10000 m until Shiojiri clipped the foot of Bahraini Dawit Fikadu Admasu and took himself, Admasu and Saudi Tariq Ahmed Alamri down. Admasu quickly returned, and he, teammate Birhanu Yematew Balew and Indian duo Kumar Kartik and Gulveer Singh easily dropped Tazawa on the back straight of the last lap. Balew took gold in 28:13.62, Kumar running a PB 28:15.38 for silver and Singh likewise PBing in 28:17.21 for silver. Tazawa just managed to retake Admasu for 4th in 28:18.66, but post-race Admasu was DQd. That bumped Shiojiri up to the 5th-place spot in 28:35.02.
• Natsuki Yamakawa was 10th of the 10 athletes in the men's long jump final to record a mark, jumping 7.61 m (-0.3). The top four were all over 8 meters, 2022 world champion Jianan Wang taking gold at 8.22 m (-0.6), India's Sreeshankar silver at 8.19 m (-0.5) and China's Yuhao Shi bronze at 8.10 m (-0.1).
• Yume Goto took 5th in the women's 1500 m final in 4:19.45, Bahraini duo Winfred Mutile Yavi and Marta Hirpato Yota winning gold and bronze in 4:11.65 and 4:15.97, and Indian Harmilan Bains silver in 4:12.74.
• Qatari Mohamad Algarni won the men's 1500 m final in 3:38.36, Indians Ajay Kumar Saroj and Jinson Johnson silver and bronze in 3:38.94 and 3:39.74. Japanese NR holder Kazuki Kawamura was only 9th in 3:44.71.
• Yuki Yamasaki and Karin Odama went 5-6 in the women's heptathlon in 5616 and 5605, gold going to China's Ninali Zheng at 6149 points, silver to Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina at 6056 and bronze to Nandini Agasara with a PB 5712.

Complete results here. The Hangzhou Asian Games continue through Thursday.

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