The appearance of Olympic hammer champion Dilshod Nazarov was one of the highlights of the Asian Championships, and the towering thrower didn't disappoint the crowd gathered at Kalinga Stadium on the third day of the championships in Bhubaneswar, India, on Saturday (8).
Nazarov didn't find his rhythm in the initial rounds. However, as the competition progressed he built momentum and stamped his class in the final round with a 76.69m effort. It was the second best winning throw this season for the 32-year-old from Tajikistan who won the continental title for the fourth time. His first came in Guangzhou in 2009.
Nazarov began his continental success as the U20 champion in Singapore 18 years ago, which he followed with a pair of silvers and a bronze at the senior level before his first triumph in 2009. Nazarov was happy to retain the title, although he fell short on his ambitions to better Koji Murofushi&rsquo;s meet mark of 80.45m and countryman Andrey Abdulayev&rsquo;s Indian all-comers record of 79.10m.
&ldquo;I am focusing on the upcoming Worlds at London, so I played it safe here,&rdquo; said Nazarov, who heads the Tajikistan Athletics Federation.
The silver in this event went to China&rsquo;s Wang Shizhu was second with 73.81m, just four centimetres better than Korean Lee Ywun-Chul.
<h3>Hye-Lim and Al-Mandeel take sprint hurdles titles</h3>
It was fourth time lucky for Korea's Jung Hye-Lim in the 100m hurdles. The 30-year-old Korean won silver in Kobe in 2011 but finished outside the podium in 2009 and 2015. She triumphed this time around, clocking 13.16 ahead of Japan's Ayako Kimura who clocked 13.30.
In a similar fashion Kuwait&rsquo;s Abdulaziz Al-Mandeel, who had two successive runner-up finishes in the 110m hurdles in 2013 and 2015, moved up a notch in Bhubaneswar.
Having entered with identical season bests of 13.39 alongside Korean Kim Byung-Jun, who shared the podium with him at Wuhan in 2013, Al-Mandeel felt more assured of victory after the morning&rsquo;s heats where the Korean failed to advance following a poor finish. But teammate Yaqoub Al-Yoha seemed unpredictable after a win in the Asian Grand Prix at Jinhua earlier this year. When the race was on Indian record-holder Siddhanth Thingalaya took and early lead but faded away by the midway point leaving the two Kuwaiti to battle it out. Al-Mandeel took the win in 13.50 followed by Al-Yoha who clocked 13.59.
When India previously hosted these championships at Pune four years ago, Eric Cray could not finish his 400m hurdles race. However on the same Indian soil the 28-year-old ended as Asian champion. The Filipino-American, born in Sacramento, made an impression when he won the 100m and 400m hurdles titles at the South East Asian Games in 2015. He didn't reach the 100m final here, but took his specialty in 49.57, beating Chinese Taipei&rsquo;s Chen Chieh, who clocked 49.75. India's MP Jabir was third in 50.22.
Minutes earlier Vietnam&rsquo;s Nguyen Thi Huyen won the women's contest in 56.14, with Indian Anu Raghavan second.
<h3>Keyhani and Singh take steeplechase wins</h3>
India&rsquo;s Sudha Singh was the inaugural Asian Games champion when the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase was introduced in Guangzhou seven years ago. Between 2009 and 2013 she won three silver medals in the Asian championships. However, illness dashed her entry in the last edition at Wuhan where another Indian Lalita Babar emerged as the champion. Babar improved rapidly and made notable appearances in the world and Olympic finals thereafter.
The rivalry between the two Indians has become a familiar one, with Babar improving the national mark several times. Singh reclaimed in briefly with a 9:26.55 performance in the Shanghai leg of the Diamond League last year. But Babar Indian once again bettered it. However the absence of Babar and Bahrain&rsquo;s world record-holder Ruth Jebet made Singh's task significantly easier in Bhubaneswar. She ran well calculated race, taking the lead from the start and finished in a season best 9:59.47.
Iran&rsquo;s Hossein Keyhani pulled a big surprise in the men&rsquo;s race. A fourth place finisher at Wuhan, Keyhani snatched the lead just before the penultimate water jump and went on to win in 8:43.82.
Worlds silver medalist Zhang Guowei was not at his best and settled with a silver clearing 2.28m. In the high jump, former world youth champion Woo Sang-Hyeok topped 2.30m to take the title ahead of China's Zhang Guowei who topped 2.28m. Syria&rsquo;s Majed El Dein Ghazal, who entered the fray with a season best 2.32m, finished third at 2.24m.
Kazakh women took 1-2 in the triple jump with Mariya Ovchinnikova, the inaugural Asian youth champion in 2015, winning with 13.72m ahead of Irina Ektova, who reached 13.62m.
In 4x100m relays action, Kazakhstan beat China to the women's title 43.53 to 44.50. China defended the men's title over Thailand but by the slimmest of margins. After a close reading of the photo finish, the verdict came in favour of China, 39.371 to 39.372.
India leads to medal table with seven gold, four silver and nine bronze ahead of China (5-6-4) and Iran (4-0-1).
<h3>Chopra presented with world U20 record trophy</h3>
Earlier in the day, world U20 record holder in the javelin throw Neeraj Chopra was presented with a World Record Trophy in a special ceremony on the sidelines of the Championships. Athletics Federation of India (AFI) President Adille J. Sumariwalla presented th trophy.
The 19-year-old won gold at the IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016 with an 86.48m throw to establish the new world U20 standard.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF

The appearance of Olympic hammer champion Dilshod Nazarov was one of the highlights of the Asian Championships, and the towering thrower didn't disappoint the crowd gathered at Kalinga Stadium on the third day of the championships in Bhubaneswar, India, on Saturday (8).

Nazarov collects fourth Asian hammer title in Bhubaneswar

Thailand dominated the athletics at the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, winning 17 of the 46 gold medals on offer during the six days of competition which concluded on Friday (12).No fewer than 11 Games records, 42 national records and three Southeast Asian records were set at the newly built 55,000 capacity National Stadium.Undoubtedly one of the top performers of the championships was Eric Cray of the Philippines. The Texas-based athlete clocked a national record of 10.25 (0.0m/s) to win the 100m, finishing comfortably in front of Indonesia&rsquo;s Yaspi Boby and Iswandi, who took silver and bronze respectively in 10.45.One day later, Cray successfully defended his title in the 400m hurdles, smashing the Games record with a time of 49.40, just outside the national record of 49.12 he set earlier this year. Vietnam&rsquo;s Quach Cong Lich was second in 50.29.Cray will contest the 400m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 and will hope to improve on his performance in Moscow two years ago when he didn&rsquo;t make it past the first round.Indonesia&rsquo;s Maria Londa successfully defended her titles in the long jump and triple jump. But the Asian Games champion was pushed all the way in the long jump by Bui Thi Thu Thao.The Vietnamese athlete surprised the 24-year-old in the opening round with a national record of 6.58m, three centimetres farther than Londa&rsquo;s PB. Londa fouled her first attempt and then jumped only 6.04m in the second round, while Thu Thao extended her lead to 6.60m.But Londa responded in the third round with 6.70m, smashing her own national record by 15 centimetres and achieving the qualifying standard for the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympics.Thu Thao tried her best to get back on top. Her next two jumps looked to beyond 6.80m, but her foot left noticeable marks on the plasticine. In the final round she sailed out to 6.65m, her third national record of the day, but not quite enough to catch Londa.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m thrilled with my success to qualify for my first Olympics, all my hard work in training is paying off,&rdquo; she told local reporters. &ldquo;To achieve something in life, you must have true passion, dedication and motivation.&rdquo;The next day, Londa jumped 13.75m to win the triple jump in an even closer competition, finishing just two centimetres ahead of Thailand&rsquo;s Thitima Muangjan.The men&rsquo;s event was won by Malaysia&rsquo;s Hakimi Ismail, who smashed his own national record to win with a Games record of 16.76m.<h3>Triple gold for Nguyen</h3>Vietnam&rsquo;s Nguyen Thi Huyen was the only athlete at the Games who has met the criteria for both the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympics in two individual events.In Singapore, she first destroyed the Games record in the 400m hurdles, breaking her own national record with 56.15. She then set a PB and Asian-leading time of 52.00 to win the 400m. She capped off a successful week by anchoring the Vietnamese quartet to victory in the 4x400m, clocking a Games record of 3:31.46.Nguyen&rsquo;s Vietnamese compatriots Duong Van Thai and Do Thi Thao also won multiple titles. Duong won the men&rsquo;s 800m and 1500m in 1:51.43 and 3:47.04 respectively, while Do took gold in the women&rsquo;s events, clocking 2:05.22 and 4:28.39.Indonesia&rsquo;s Triyaningsih achieved a similar feat in the longer distances, winning the women&rsquo;s 5000m and 10,000m in 16:18.06 and 33:44.53 respectively.<h3>Thai dominance continues</h3>Thailand&rsquo;s Jamras Rittidet won his fourth consecutive Southeast Asian title in the 110m hurdles, breaking the Games record for the fourth time in succession. He clocked 13.69 (0.2m/s) to finish 0.28 ahead of Malaysia&rsquo;s Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian, who once again had to settle for the silver medal.In the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles, Rittidet&rsquo;s training partner Wallapa Punsongneun regained the gold medal from Indonesia&rsquo;s defending champion Dedeh Erawati, 13.56 to 13.61.Having thrown beyond 60 metres this season, Thailand&rsquo;s Subenrat Insaeng won the discus by more than 12 metres, setting a Games record of 59.56m to win her third consecutive title.Thailand won three of the relay events, taking gold in the men&rsquo;s 4x100m and 4x400m in 38.99 and 3:06.81, as well as the women&rsquo;s 4x100m in 44.27.<h3>Young stars shine</h3>Singapore&rsquo;s Veronica Shanti Pereira delighted the home crowd with victory in the women&rsquo;s 200m. The 19-year-old set a national record of 23.60 to beat pre-race favourite Kayla Richardson, who finished second in 23.71.Richardson, just 17, had earlier won the 100m in a photo-finish ahead of Thailand&rsquo;s Tassaporn Wannakit, both clocking 11.76.Another teenager won the men&rsquo;s 200m. Vietnam&rsquo;s Le Trong Hinh, 19, set a national record of 20.89 to take gold ahead of Thailand&rsquo;s Jaran Sathoengram (21.05) and defending champion Jirapong Meenapra (21.13).Malaysian 19-year-old Irfan Shamsuddin successfully defended his discus title with a distance of 56.62m.The next edition of the Southeast Asian Games will be held in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.Jad Adrian Washif for the IAAF

Thailand dominated the athletics at the 28th Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, winning 17 of the 46 gold medals on offer during the six days of competition which concluded on Friday (12).

Nazarov collects fourth Asian hammer title in Bhubaneswar

Double gold for Cray and Londa at Southeast Asian Games