Moukhled Al-Otaibi wins Asian Games 10,000m (© Gray Mortimore)
BusanA 22yearold Saudi Arabian soldier shattered reputations and rankings beyond recognition as he won the 5000 metres in the Asian Games athletic championships here today.
Moukhled Al-Otaibi, a wiry, dapper gymnast-turned runner, joined a select band of just three athletes who have recorded a distance double at the Asian Games. Before coming to Busan, his best placing in a continental meet was the fourth position he gained at 5000 metres in the Asian championships in Colombo this August.
“I wasn’t fit then’’, Al-Otaibi explained through an interpreter. “I had made mistakes. I came here with the intention of not making those mistakes again.”
Al-Otaibi waited for the home straight in the 5000m to make his decisive move, producing a huge `kick’ that left the Qatari, Khamis Seif Abdullah, gasping for breath. As he neared the finish, he signalled the win to his team mates in the stands, just as he had done on the opening day, when winning the 10,000 metres.
Once across the line, he knelt, said a prayer, took a flag and was off on a victory lap.
The last to win a distance double was Asian record holder Toshinari Takaoka of Japan in Hiroshima in 1994. Before him, Indian Hari Chand had claimed it in 1978 and Sri Lankan S. L. Rosa in 1970.
He will receive 80,000 dollars for his two titles from his country. “I will put some of that money back into the sport,” said the Al-Otaibi, who had started off as a cross-country runner at the age of 17 and was the gold winner in the 10,000 metres and silver winner in the 5000 metres in the Asian junior championships in 1999.
“I was only wary of the Qatari (Abdullah), but I was prepared to run any type of race. I was prepared for a fast finish,” confirmed a delighted Al-Otaibi.
Abdullah, winner of the 3000m steeplechase title, ran out of gas after he tried to chase Al-Otaibi down the final 100m, and nearing the finish he almost stopped, which allowed Abdulhak Zakaria of Bahrain to snatch the silver away from him.
Al-Otaibi’s gold came in 13:43.82. The much-feared Japanese, Toshihiro Iwasa (fourth) and Tomohiro Seto (eighth) were disappointments. Japan has performed well below expectations in athletics so far.
The exception to the Japanese rule today was 200m runner Shingo Suetsugu. He ran a scorcher of a bend, in 20.38, his and Asia’s second best time this season, to decimate the field. Kazakh Gennadiy Chernovol was second in 20.57, while Chinese Yang Yaozu took the bronze in 20.58.
Chinese decathlete Qi Haifeng posted an Asian junior record of 8041 points while winning the gold. He bettered his own record set back home in Benxi in June by 11 points. He now has three scores above 8000 points in two years.
Haifeng had unluckily missed the gold at the Asian Championships in Colombo, pulling out with injury after nine events when he was in the lead, with Qatari Ahmed Hassan Moussa claiming the gold.
Today in Busan, Moussa finished in bronze with 7683, a personal best and National record, behind Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Karpov who had 7995 for silver.
South Korean veteran Lee Jin-Taek won the high jump gold at 2.23 metres, in front of an excited crowd of school children. It was a low-key competition in which four jumpers were tied for the silver at 2.19. After the count back eliminated Bahrain’s Slaem Salem, the other three were awarded silvers since the tie could not be broken. The three were Wang Zhouzhou of China, Cui Kai, also of China, and Kim Tae-Hoi of Korea.
As the 30-year-old Jin-Taek took the gold medal, a small crowd, who had waited patiently in the stadium well after the day’s events were over, cheered wildy. Lee, the best jumper Asia has seen since Chinese Zhu Jianhua, retained the title he won in Bangkok. He also took a silver in Hiroshima in 1994.
India had a profitable day, with their women winning three gold medals and a silver.
Saraswati Saha won the women’s 200 metres, in the absence of Sri Lankan Susanthika Jayasinghe who had won the 100m gold earlier this week. Jayasinghe had pulled out of the 200 metres at the last moment after suffering a hamstring strain at the warm-up ground, shortly before the runners were taken off into the call room. She had all along talked about a possible Games record while winning the 200m to complete a sprint double but now she will have to wait for another four years.
Saha, who had first come into the limelight this season with a 22.82 clocking at home, ran brilliantly, especially in the latter part when she caught Uzbek Lyubov Perepelova, and in the process also seemed to overcome a slight tug to her hamstring.
At the finish, the Indian was comfortably home in front, but Perepelova was overtaken by both China’s Ni Xiaoli and Kazakhstan’s Viktoria Kovyreva. Saha clocked 23.28 and Ni Xiaoli 23.34. The Indian said that she would have been happier had she won with Jayasinghe in the fray.
Sunita Rani, coming back into top-level competition after a two-year gap because of injuries, destroyed the women’s 1500 metres field, bursting away into the second lap. Only Kyrgyzstan’s Tatiana Borisova made any pretension of chasing Rani, but soon gave up, reconciled to the silver. Sunita was timed at 4:06.03, bettering the Games record of Chinese Qu Yunxia (4:12.48) set in 1994, and also improving upon her National record of 4:08.1, clocked three years ago. It was an outstanding performance by a woman whose career looked threatened by a stress fracture to the thigh bone which she suffered in 1999.
Another Indian, Neelam Singh also gave her best performance in a meet abroad, bettering the National and the Asian Games record with her second throw in Discus that measured 64.55. China's Song Aimin and Ma Shuli, after having started the competition as the favourites just could not respond to the Indian’s early charge and settled for the silver and bronze. Neelam had won the bronze at the Games four years ago.
Sri Lankan Damayanthi Darsha who had recovered from a hamstring injury sustained at the time of the Asian meet in Colombo in August which she skipped, today clocked a Games record of 51.13 in the 400 metres.
It was a run far too superior for India’s 800m gold medallist K. M. Beenamol, who complaining about aching limbs and exhaustion after four races at these Games, was lucky to end up with the silver, as the fast-finishing Svetlana Bodritskaya of Kazakhstan threatened her near the line. Beenamol clocked 52.04 seconds while the Kazakh was third in 52.10.
After four days of competition, China has eight gold medals, India six and Saudi Arabia five. Friday is a day of rest.
By an IAAF Correspondent.
Selected Results -
Men:
200m: 1. Shingo Suetsugu (Jpn) 20.38, 2. Gennadiy Chernovol (Kaz) 20.57, 3. Yang Yaozu (Chn) 20.58.
5000m: 1. Makhloud Al-Otaibi (Ksa) 13:41.48, 2. Abdulhak Zakaria (Brn) 13:43.82, 3. Khamis Seif Abdullah (Qat) 13:44.42.
High Jump:1. Lee Jin-Taek (Kor) 2.23, 2. Wang Zhouzhou (Chn), Cui Kai (Chn) and Kim Tae-Hoi (Kor) 2.19.
Decathlon:1. Qi Haifeng (Chn) 8041, 2. Dmitry Karpov (Kaz) 7995, 3. Ahmad Hassan Moussa (Qat) 7683.
Women:
200m: 1. Saraswati Saha (Ind) 23.28, 2. Ni Xiaoli (Chn) 23.34, 3. Viktoriya Kovyreva (Kaz) 23.48.
400m:1. K. V. Damayanthi Darsha (Sri) 51.13, 2. K. M. Beenamol (Ind) 52.04, 3. Svetlana Bodritskaya (Kaz) 52.10.
1500m: 1. Sunita Rani (Ind) 4:06.03, 2. Tatiana Borisova (Kgz) 4:12.53, 3. Yoshiko Ichikawa (Jpn) 4:13.42.
100m Hurdles: 1. Feng Yun (Chn) 12.96, 2. Su Yiping (Chn) 13.01, 3. Trecia Roberts (Tha) 13.07.
Discus:1. Neelam J. Singh (Ind) 64.55, 2. Song Aimin (Chn) 61.80, 3. Ma Shuli (Chn) 59.89.
