Paul Alexander (AP)
29 August 2000 – Jakarta, Indonesia - Takayo Kondo tied an Asian Athletics Championships record by clearing 4.0 meters in the women's pole vault Tuesday, one of two golds that helped Japan narrow China's lead in the overall medals race.
Bobby Aloysius took the women's high jump at 1.83 meters to give India the advantage in gold medals with three in an event that has been plagued by problems, including an absence of Olympic-quality athletes with the Sydney Games less than three weeks away.
Wataru Ebihara earlier took Japan's first gold in the men's hammer throw with a toss of 69.50 meters. Japan finished the second day of the four-day event with seven overall medals in 13 events to eight for China, which was shut out in the five evening-session finals.
India was third in the overall count with six medals, followed by Qatar and Kazakhstan, each with a pair of golds among their three medals.
Wu Ping gave gave China its second gold by winning the men's 20-kilometer walk in one hour, 28 minutes and four seconds under a broiling early-morning sun with only a couple dozen spectators scattered around Jakarta's Madya Stadium.
The conditions had cooled off considerably by the time the evening session started, and the stadium filled to see Nattapol Namkunha earn Thailand's first gold with 16.53 meters in the men's long jump. Abdullah Khamis of Qatar led a Middle Eastern sweep in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase in eight minutes, 47.33 seconds.
Svetlana Kazanina of Kazakhstan won the women's heptathlon with a total of 6,074 points in the night's final event.
