2008 Asian Grand Prix opens in Bangkok

Indian and Chinese athletes shared the major spoils, winning seven events each in the opening leg of the Asian Grand Prix circuit at the Thammasat University Stadium here on Monday (22).

The Asian Grand Prix 2008 is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 13-14 September in Stuttgart, Germany.

Kaur and Litvinenko excel

On a day of average performances, Indian woman quarter-miler, Mandeep Kaur, and Kazakhstan's triple jumper Irina Litvinenko, stood out with their top-class efforts.

Kaur ran her third sub-52sec on the trot this month while winning the 400 metres, outclassing a modest field. Kazakh Marina Maslenko put up the only resistance against the 20-year-old Indian girl who has made some great strides the past few weeks from being a 53.34-second one-lap runner. Mandeep timed 51.94.

Litvinenko posted a personal best of 14.33 metres in Triple Jump. She opened with a foul and then had a 14.0 that seemed to have set the tempo. China's Xiu Tingting had recorded 13.94 Yelena Parfyonova of Kazakhstan reached 13.85 in their opening attempts.

Litivnenko who had just 15 days earlier back home posted her PB of 14.11, stretched her lead to 14.33 in the third, fouled her next jump and passed the last two. The 21-year-old Kazakh could afford to do that, for, the Chinese and Parfyonova never looked like breaching that mark.

Chinese triple jumpers below par

The men's Triple Jump competition provided the surprises of the afternoon, with Chinese Gu Jinjie ending up fifth with just 16.03m and his team-mate Zhang Minwei, the continental topper last year with 17.27, doing just 15.01 in his only valid jump and not making the top eight.

Kazakhstan's Roman Valiyev, Asian Games silver winner, took the win with a jump of 16.93m. Asian champion Renjith Maheswary of India, not in the best of form, came up with his best in more than six months with a silver finish in 16.53 metres.

The best Chinese performer of the meeting was was high hurdler Yin Jing. He smashed the field in 13.70 sec with team-mate Xie Wenjun clocking 13.91 in second.

In a keen duel in women's High Jump, Kazakh Anna Ustinova edged team-mate Yeketerina Yevseyeva on a count-back after both cleared 1.91 and failed at 1.93. Ustinova having cleared 1.91 on her first attempt, as against the other woman's second, took the gold.

George only 6.41m

Anju George had a rash of fouls, four to be precise, as she won the women's Long Jump against an ordinary field. She could only manage a 6.41m in her last jump against an encouraging 6.50 in two meets this summer back home.

Tight Discus but not the highest results

The contest was expected to be intense in women's Discus Throw. And that's how it turned out; except that the results did not emerge on expected line. Having had a stint of training in the US under the guidance of former World record holder Mac Wilkins, and also thrown the best this season among the Indians, Krishna Poonia could have been expected to lead the Indian challenge. She fared poorly finishing fifth with 57.57 and it was Harwant Kaur who put up a challenge to the Chinese.

Chinese Li Yanfeng won with a 61.38 that came in the second round. Kaur's 60.78, her second 60-plus effort in a week, came in the sixth and final round. That was good enough to beat the other Chinese, Sun Taifeng, for the second place. Indian Seema Antil, still struggling to find her wanted form, finished fourth with 58.13. Antil is looking for the Olympic 'A' standard of 61.00 metres. The other two Indians have that norm.

Relays

The relays produced excitement, but not exactly the timings that the teams were aiming for. Fielding an inexperienced team, Thailand was beaten to the fifth place in the men's 4x100, a rarity for the Asian champion, with China winning. The Thai women duly won their relay.

The Saudi Arabian withdrawal from the men's 4x400 should have provided Sri Lanka a clear passage, but India beat them. The Indian women won the longer relay, but with a timing of 3:32.55 they weren't exactly celebrating. The Olympic qualification race has really hotted-up and the Indians know that they have to do far better than that. With national record holder Manjeet Kaur in the injured list, this was, however, no mean effort by the quartet of Satti Geetha, Mandeep Kaur, M. R. Poovamma and Chitra Soman.

By an IAAF Correspondent

Results:

Men

100m: 'A': Liang Jiahong (Chn) 10.56, 2. Ali Sooli Abdullah (Omn) 10.60, 3. Amir Piyaho (Iri) 10.60; 'B' race: Suryo Agung Wibowo (Ina) 10.42, 2. Xing Yanah (Chn) 10.43, 3. Ranpati Dewage Umanga (Sri) 10.55.

400m: 1. Prasanna Amarasekara (Sri) 46.89, 2. Rohita Pushpakumara (Sri) 47.19, 3. K. M. Binu (Ind) 47.31.

1500m: 1. Sandeep Karan Singh (Ind) 3:51.32, 2. Naresh Yadav (Ind) 3:51.61, 3. Yu Zhiyang (Chn) 3:57.10.
3000m: 1. Kashinath Aswale (Ind) 8:09.97, 2. Ajay Kumar Patel (Ind) 8:09.97, 3. Julius Semona (Phi) 8:28.43.

110m hurdles: 1. Yin Jing (Chn) 13.70, 2. Xie Wenjun (Chn) 13.91, 3. Wan Sofian Rayzam Shah (Mas) 13.95.

High jump: 1. Wang Chen (Chn) 2.19, 2. Hari Sankar Roy (Ind) 2.16, 3. Suchart Dinghaklang (Tha) 2.13.

Triple jump: 1. Roman Valiyev (Kaz) 16.93, 2. Renjith Maheswary (Ind) 16.53, 3. Yevgeniy Ektov (Kaz) 16.50.

Shot put: 1. Satyendra Kumar Singh (Ind) 18.42, 2. Grigoriy Kamulya (Uzb) 18.22, 3. Om Prakash (Ind) 17.77.

Javelin 1. Qin Qiang (Chn) 76.98, 2. Mahdi Ravaei (Iri) 72.70, 3. Kashinath Naik (Ind) 72.66.

4x100m relay: 1. China 39.76, 2. Oman 40.05, 3. India 40.13.

4x400m: 1. India 3:07.28, 2. Sri Lanka 3:10.91, 3. Thailand 3:13.54.

Women

100m: 'A' race: 1. Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.44, 2. Chen Jie (Chn) 11.81, 3. H. M. Jyothi (Ind) 12.09.

'B' race: Vu Thi Huong (Vie) 11.54, 2. Sanrat Nongnuch (Tha) 11.71, 3. Jintara Seangdee (Tha) 11.73.

400m: 1. Mandeep Kaur (Ind) 51.94, 2. Marina Maslenko (Kaz) 52.43, 3. Chandrika Subashini Rasnayake (Sri) 53.99.

1500m: 1. Truong Thanh Hang (Vie) 4:14.55, 2. O. P. Jaisha (Ind) 4:16.97, 3. Svetlana Lukasheva (Kaz) 4:17.82.

High jump: 1. Anna Ustinova (Kaz) 1.91, 2. Yeketerina Yevseyeva (Kaz) 1.91, 3. Bui Thi Nhung (Vie) 1.89.

Long jump: 1. Anju B. George (Ind) 6.41, 2. Dinara Relayeva (Kaz) 6.35, 3. Zhang Lan (Chn) 6.29.

Triple jump: 1. Irina Litvinenko (Kaz) 14.33, 2. Xiu Tingting (Chn) 13.94, 3. Yelena Parfyonova (Kaz) 13.85.

Shot put: 1. Li Ling (Chn) 18.86, 2. Zhang Guirong (Sin) 16.80, 3. Iolanta Ulyeva (Kaz) 16.36.

Discus: 1. Li Yanfeng (Chn) 61.38, 2. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 60.78, 3. Sun Taifeng (Chn) 59.37.

4x100m relay: 1. Thailand 44.48, 2. China 44.53, 3. India 46.06.

4x400m relay: 1. India 3:32.55, 2. China 3:35.76, 3. Thailand 3:40.14.