Nozomi Tanaka wins the Asian junior 3000m title in Gifu (© organisers)
A pair of championship records fell on Sunday (10) as the 18th Asian Junior Athletics Championships came to a close in Gifu, Japan.
Running at the front for much of the race, 18-year-old Nozomi Tanaka dominated the women's 3000m as she cruised to a 9:04.36 win, clipping nearly six seconds from the previous championships record of 9:10.17 set by Lan Lixin of China in 1997. Tanaka, who has an 8:54.27 lifetime best set last year, was eighth over the distance at the 2016 World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz.
Yuna Wada was second in 9:14.13 to secure a 1-2 finish for Japan while further back, Liu Fang of China took bronze in 9:35.69.
Another meeting record came in the penultimate event, the women's 4x400m relay, and again courtesy of the host nation. Ayano Shiomi, Kasumi Yoshida, Natsumi Murakami and Ayako Kawata teamed to take a 3:38.20 win, shattering the previous mark of 3:39.24, set by China in 1997, by more than a second. Kawata and Shiomi finished first and third in the 800m on Saturday.
India finished second in 3:41.11.
Ajeet Kumar of India won the men's 5000m in 14:15.24, a big personal best for the 19-year-old. Ren Tazawa of Japan was second in 14:17.26 with Iranian Seyedamir Zamanpour clocking 14:25.25, also a personal best, to round out the podium.
Another Indian victory came in the men's triple jump courtesy of Kamalraj Kanagaraj, who nabbed gold with a 15.75m leap in the opening round. The 18-year-old has a 16.41m best from last year.
Japan's Kyohei Tomori topped a personal best 2.16m to win the men's high jump over Nuh Abdulkadir Ibrahim Anuh of Qatar, who topped out at 2.14m.
In a photo finish, Tai-Sheng Wei of Taipei took the men's 200m in 21.05, a scant 0.01 ahead of Minku Shin of Korea. Jasuteinjunpei Tsukamoto of Japan was third in 21.09.
The men's 400m hurdles was nearly as close, with Yusuke Shirao of Japan taking the win in 50.52, just ahead of Qatar's Bassem Mohamed Awad Hemeida who clocked 50.55.
Karin Odama of Japan won the heptathlon with a 5133 tally, more than 100 points clear of Cai-Juan Chen of Taipei, who scored 4925.
Other winners included Tao Yanan of China who won the women's 200m in 24.01 and Japan's Kasumi Yoshida, the 400m hurdles winner in 58.43.
The championships concluded with the men's 4x400m relay, won by the Sri Lankan quartet of Pabasara Niku, Pasindu Kodikara, Ravishka Indrajith and Aruna Dharshana in 3:08.70. Thailand was second in 3:09.20 and Malaysia third in 3:09.60.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
