Korea’s Jong Yong Ok will start as the overwhelming favourite in the women’s race at the 11th Asian Marathon Championships in Hong Kong on Sunday (17 Feb).
In the men’s race, Bahrain’s Abdulhak Zakaria El Gorche, the only sub 2:15 runner in the field, is the favourite to take victory in a race that will be held for the first time in Hong Kong.
WOMEN- Jong is the overwhelming favourite
The top entrant for Sunday’s is without doubt Jong. The 27-year old Korean brings into these championships an established pedigree as one of the most consistent marathon runners in Asia with seven clockings under 2:30.
Her latest victory came in the 2007 Pyongyang Marathon in April last year where she also improved on her five-year old personal best time to take victory in 2:26.02. Jong competed a further three times in Pyongyang, but finished no lower than second in all her races.
Her main challenge is expected to come from Japan’s Mika Hikichi who has a marathon PB of 2:31.03 from the 2006 Nagoya Marathon. The runner who celebrated her 26th birthday last week also finished sixth in the highly-competitive Tokyo Women’s Marathon in November last year.
MEN- Bahrain set for one-two
Unlike the women’s race, the men’s contest will have no clear cut favourites, although Bahrain runners Abdulhak Zakaria and Khalid Kamal Yaseen will hope to score an outstanding cleansweep of the top two places in Hong Kong.
Abdulhak Zakaria is the fastest runner in the field with a PB of 2:11.49, but Yassen has a better major championship pedigree following his silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha fifteen months ago.
Mongolia Bat Ochir Ser-od will also add his major championship experience to the field having taken part in the last three world championship marathons and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The 27-year old will once again be chasing the Olympic qualification standard for Beijing.
Korea’s Ryo Pong Hyok (2:16:23), Japan’s Fukuoka Koichiro (2:16:50) and China’s Su Wei are the other top runners in the field.
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF
