Liu Junxi on his way to winning the Asian indoor 60m hurdles title (© Asian Athletics 
Edwin Koo)
Three championship records were bettered at the Asian Indoor Championships, which concluded on Sunday (8) after three days of action at Tuanbo Sports Center Athletics Arena in Tianjin, China.
World indoor bronze medallist Liu Junxi delighted the home crowd by winning the men’s 60m hurdles in a championship record of 7.53. Kazakhstan's two-time winner and former championship record-holder David Yefremov finished outside the podium in fourth place.
India’s Tajinderpal Singh Toor, another two-time winner at these championships, took an early lead in the men’s shot put and threw a championship record of 19.85m in round three. China’s Xing Jialiang then bettered it with 19.99m just moments later, only for Toor to take back the lead in round four with 20.05m.
In the final round, China's Chen Chengyu, who had been in third position with 19.72m, sent his shot out to 20.07m to snatch the gold and the championship record.
India’s two-time NCAA high jump champion Tejaswin Shankar, who has focused more on combined events in recent years, underlined his versatility by winning the men’s heptathlon in Tianjin.
The Asian silver medallist set an Indian record of 5993 – breaking Dmitriy Karpov's 14-year-old championship record – with a series that included a 2.23m high jump as well as PBs at 60m (7.11), 60m hurdles (8.02) and pole vault (4.20m).
China's Hua Zihui took silver (5749) ahead of Japan’s Yuma Maruyama (5637).
In women's shot put, Olympic bronze medallist Song Jiayuan took gold with 18.36m, coming within one centimetre of the championship record. She led a podium sweep for the host nation ahead of Jiang Yue (17.11m) and defending champion Sun Yue (15.95m).
Of China’s 10 gold medal-winners in Tianjin, three of them retained their titles.
All three title-defenders hails from the host nation. Zhang Mingkun (8.01m) and Xiong Shiqi (6.42m) successfully defended their titles in the men’s and women’s long jump respectively, while Su Wen (16.55m) led a Chinese 1-2-3 in the men’s triple jump.
Kyrgyzstan's Nursultan Keneshbekov, who won the 1500m/3000m double at the 2024 Asian Indoor Championships, this time had to settle for silver medals in those events. Japan’s Kazuya Shiojiri won the 3000m in 7:53.87, while Asian steeplechase bronze medallist Zakaria El-ahlaami of Qatar won the metric mile by exactly one second in 3:43.75. That was one of four titles won by Qatar, all in men’s disciplines.
Two-time world pole vault medallist Ernest John Obiena completed his collection of continental titles by winning his first Asian indoor title. The Asian record-holder from the Philippines vaulted 5.70m to win by 10cm from China’s Li Chenyang.
Kazakhstan’s 2022 world steeplechase champion Norah Jeruto beat Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka to the 3000m title, setting an indoor PB of 8:46.87. Tanaka had won the 1500m title just 24 hours prior in 4:19.15.
Elsewhere, triple jumper Sharifa Davronova regained the Uzbek tradition by winning the women’s event with 14.05m.
Hosts China once again dominated the championships by earning 34 medals (10 gold, 11 silver, and 13 bronze) while Qatar, with four gold, finished second on the medals table.
Ram Murali Krishnan for World Athletics
