Suleiman
takes over from Suleiman on Day 3 of Asian championships
IAAF Correspondent
11 August 2002 - Colombo -
Abdulrahman Suleiman, fresh from his silver-medal win at the Kingston World
Junior Championships, continued a family tradition at the Asian Athletics
Championships here on Sunday. He just ascended the throne that his elder brother
Mohamed Suleiman had ‘abdicated.’
“Keep up the family tradition’’ must have been the advice from the senior Suleiman as the runners went into the 1500 metres final today. The younger brother did that to perfection, without much fuss, without too many problems, in a modest time of 3:45.98.
Timings would not have mattered for the 18-year-old Abdulrahman. His brother had ruled the metric mile in Asia since 1991; now it was his turn to emulate such an accomplished runner as Mohamed Suleiman in only his first attempt at the Asian senior level.
In a slow race, Abdulrahman knew he had the ‘kick’ on the home straight to beat the rest of the modest field. Bahrain’s Ramzi Rashid, who did threaten the Qataris on the final back straight, came in second ahead of Yousuf Jamal Noor. The rest were not in contention once the Qataris and Rashid quickened the tempo from 250 metres out. Abdulrahman had something in reserve over the last 100 metres and that clinched the argument, if there was one.
Mohamed Suleiman had become a household name in Asian athletics since winning the 1500-5000 double at the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990. From 1991 through to 2000, he won the 1500m golds in the Asian championships, skipping the event in 1993 to unsuccessfully try his hand at the 5000 metres. He retained his metric mile title in the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994 and in Bangkok last time, he scored another 1500-5000 double.
Now as a retired athlete, Suleiman is here in the role of the Qatar team manager. He was the first to congratulate his brother and Jamal Noor, the bronze winner. Another brother, Nasser, is scheduled to run the 5000 metres on Monday.
It was a day of slow races and average performances in the field events barring in men’s javelin where Chinese Li Rongxiang touched an Asian season-leading 82.75 metres to come right back into contention for the bigger honours in the Busan Asian Games. The 30-year-old Chinese had been having an inconsistent season but hit top form today to hurl an excellent series of 79.30, 80.85, 82.76, 81.16 and 76.05.
Sergey Voynov of Uzbekistan and Pak Jae Myong of Korea, both over 80 metres this season, could not respond to such a fine show by the Chinese and settled for the minor medals, the Uzbek taking the silver.
Capping his profitable run through the season, especially in his sweep of titles in the inaugural Asian Grand Prix series in May, Saudi Arabian Salem Mouled Al-Ahmadi pulled off a close contest with Japanese Kazuyoshi Ishikawa at the triple jump pit. He touched 16.61 on his opening attempt and no one could better that. The Japanese settled for the silver at 16.42 metres. Mouled Al-Ahmadi was overjoyed as he took the national flag and received the hand-shakes and pats from fellow athletes, coaches and spectators.
Another man who hit top gear in the very first round and held onto that until the end was Qatar’s Saad Bilal Mubarak. The burly shot putter, winner in 1998, won in a field in which the top Indians, Bahadur Singh and Shakti Singh were absent. The third-ranked Indian, Navpreet Singh claimed the silver but hardly threatened the Qatari whose opening throw was 19.22. He had won in a similar fashion in 1998, as had Shakti Singh at Jakarta two years ago.
It looked as though it was also a day for the “early birds’’ as Chinese Wu Lingmei came up with an opening jump of 13.83 that could not be bettered even though Uzbekistan’s Maria Sokova came agonizingly close to that on her last jump. Until the measurement was called out, there was suspense there. The Uzbek just missed equaling the Chinese by two centimeters.
China, though without their best here, is still the dominant force, winning five of the 11 finals today. One of them was through the 19-year-old high hurdler Li Xiang. The youngster who bettered Li Tong’s tough-looking record of eight years old, with a 13.12 in the Lausanne Grand Prix ‘B’race, on July 2 this year, clocked 13.56, but indicated that he was keeping himself focused on the Asian Games.
Daichi Sawano of Japan and Kim Se In of Korea tied for the pole vault gold at 5.40 metres, with the Japanese taking it on a countback. He had cleared 5.40 on his first attempt while the Korean took two more attempts. Joint Asian record holder Gregoriy Yegorov of Kazakhstan was third at 5.20 metres.
From the host’s viewpoint, Sriyani Kulawansa’s defeat against Japanese Yvonne Kanazwa in a close finish in the women’s 100m hurdles was a disappointment, though Susanthika Jayasinghe gave the holiday crowd a lot to cheer about as she made the final of the 200 metres in impressive fashion clocking 22.96, finishing way ahead of the Uzbek girl, Guzel Khubbieva. The sprint double should be the Sri Lankan’s on the morrow without sweat.
The results:
Men: 1500m: 1. Abdulrahman Suleiman (QAT) 3:45.98, 2. Ramzi Rashid (BRN) 3:46.41, 3. Yousuf Jamal Noor (QAT) 3:46.85.
110m hurdles: 1. Liu Xiang (CHN) 13.56s, 2. Mubarak Ata Mubarak (KSA) 13.96, 3. Mohammed Faiz Mohammed (MAS) 14.33.
Pole vault: 1. Daichi Sawano (JPN) 5.40m, 2. Kim Se In (KOR) 5.40, 3. Gregoriy Yegorov (KAZ) 5.20.
Triple jump: 1. Salem Mouled Al-Ahmadi (KSA) 16.61m, 2. Kazuyoshi Ishikawa (JPN) 16.42, 3. Mohammed Hamdi Abdul Aziz (QAT) 16.18.
Shot put: 1. Saad Bilal Mubarak (QAT) 19.22m, 2. Navpreet Singh (IND) 18.97, 3. Kim Jae Li (PRK) 17.98.
Javelin: 1. Li Rongxiang (CHN) 82.75, 2. Sergey Voynov (UZB) 79.70, 3. Pak Jae Myong (KOR) 79.22.
Women:
1500m: 1. Tatyana Borisova (KGZ) 4:16.27, 2. Svetlana Lukasheva (KAZ) 4:18.63, 3. Mizuho Nasukawa (JPN) 4:19.27.
100m hurdles: 1. Yvonne Kanazawa (JPN) 13.40s, 2. Sriyani Kulawansa (SRI) 13.43, 3. Trecia Roberts (THA) 13.60.
Triple jump: 1. Wu Lingmei (CHN) 13.83, 2. Mariya Sokova (UZB) 13.81, 3. Yelena Parfenova (KAZ) 13.11.
Javelin: 1. Ma Ning (CHN) 57.15, 2. Xue Juan (CHN) 56.04, 3. Lee Young Sun (KOR) 53.72.
20km walk: 1, Gao Kelian (CHN) 1:36:57, 2. Jiang Xingli (CHN) 1:37.02, 3. Ryoko Tadamasa (JPN) 1:42:43.
