Puripol Boonson wins the Asian Games 100m title (© Getty Images)
Puripol Boonson produced the standout performance of the opening days of athletics action at the Asian Games in Nagoya, clocking 9.90 to win the men’s 100m and move to second on the Asian all-time list.
The Thai sprinter had already signalled his form by running a season’s best of 9.95 in the heats before breaking Su Bingtian’s Games record with 9.91 in the semifinals.
He went faster still in the final, stopping the clock at 9.90 to become Thailand’s first Asian Games champion in the event for 48 years, following Anat Ratanapol in 1974 and Suchart Jairsuraparp in 1978. Only Su has run faster among Asian sprinters.
Oman’s Ali Al Balushi took silver in 10.04, with his brother Mazen Al Balushi earning bronze in 10.11.
China’s 17-year-old Chen Yujie also produced a record-breaking sprint performance in the women’s 100m. The Asian U20 record-holder improved her continental age-group mark to 11.06 to take gold, also breaking the Games record.
The only Chinese woman to have run faster is Li Xuemei, who clocked a wind-assisted 11.05 to win the Asian Games title in 1998.
Singapore’s Shanti Pereira repeated her silver-medal finish from 2023, clocking 11.21, while Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong, a double Asian Games champion in 2018, took bronze in 11.33.
Bahrain also broke the Games record in the mixed 4x400m relay, with Isah Musa, Aisha Abdullah, Alaa Sami and Salwa Eid Naser combining to clock 3:12.87. Naser anchored the quartet with a 48.9 split as Bahrain finished ahead of India, who clocked 3:14.46, and Vietnam, who recorded 3:14.54.
It was the third successive Asian Games at which Bahrain had crossed the line first in the event, although their 2018 title was later forfeited following a doping violation.
Olympic steeplechase champion Winfred Yavi added another gold for Bahrain in the women’s 10,000m. Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka, reigning Asian champion Daisy Jepkemei of Kazakhstan, India’s 2024 Asian cross-country champion Seema Kumari and Yavi were also among the leading group at various stages of the race.
Yavi moved to the front with three laps remaining and went on to win in 32:39.18. Tanaka finished two seconds behind to take silver, with Kumari securing bronze.
In the men’s 10,000m, Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew successfully defended his title. Japan’s Yamato Yoshii led through the first half before Bahrain’s Albert Kiptoo took over, with Balew and two-time Asian champion Gulveer Singh remaining close behind.
Balew made his decisive move on the final lap and won in 28:27.51, with Singh taking silver in 28:29.38 and Kiptoo bronze in 28:34.38.
Uzbekistan also enjoyed a strong start to the athletics programme, winning both the women’s triple jump and men’s hammer.
Sharifa Davronova successfully defended her triple jump title, overtaking China’s Huang Yingying with a fifth-round leap of 14.31m before improving to 14.35m with her final attempt.
Sukhrob Khodjaev, meanwhile, upgraded the bronze medals he won at the previous two editions of the Games to gold in the hammer.
His second-round throw of 74.38m proved enough for victory, while Japan’s Shota Fukuda took silver to end the host nation’s 16-year wait for a medal in the event.
Shigenobu and Koji Murofushi, who between them won seven of Japan’s 11 Asian Games gold medals in the men’s hammer, had jointly lit the Games flame at the opening ceremony in Nagoya.
China claimed the top two places in the women’s shot put. Song Jiayuan won with 19.40m, ahead of Zhang Linru’s 18.14m, while Manpreet Kaur took bronze for India with 17.17m.
Japan’s Misaki Morota delighted the home crowd with a personal best of 4.55m to win the women’s pole vault. China’s Asian record-holder Niu Chunge cleared 4.50m to take silver, while India’s Baranica Elangovan and Kazakhstan’s Polina Ivanova shared bronze.
Japan also secured a one-two in the heptathlon through Yuri Tanaka and Nanaka Kajiki.
The athletics programme had begun on Wednesday (23) with the men’s and women’s half marathon race walks, which replaced the traditional 20km events for the first time. Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi, the world record-holder for both the 20km and half marathon race walks, was beaten by China’s Shi Shengji, who won in 1:23:32.
The victory delivered the first athletics gold medal of the Games and China’s 200th athletics title in Asian Games history. China soon added another gold as Yang Liujing won the women’s race.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for World Athletics