ĦĦĦĦBy Pan Yi and Zhang Bihong
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ĦĦĦĦBUSAN, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- China, an athletic powerhouse in Asia, reaffirm
its leading role in track and field at the Busan Asian Games by collecting three
of the eight golds up for grab on Sunday.
ĦĦĦĦChina ranked first on the gold tally with 14 titles, followed by India and
Saudi Arabia, both with seven. Japan, another athletics powerhouse in Asia, was
quite lackluster with only two golds.
ĦĦĦĦThe first gold for China today came from the women's 4x100m relay race in
which Chinese girls defended their Asiad title in 43.84 seconds. China set the
Asiad record of 43.36 seconds in the event at the 1998 Bangkok Asiad.
ĦĦĦĦZeng Xiujun, the first runner, said after the race, "I had a very good
start, which encouraged my teammates to run even faster."
ĦĦĦĦHuang Mei, the third runner, said, "After a brilliant start by Zeng, other
runners also kept calm and gave their full play in therace."
ĦĦĦĦThe second gold for China was garnered by Wu Tao in the men's discus throw
in which he hurled the discus to 60.76 meters in his fifth attempt, beating the
silver medalist Sammi Abbas from Iran by only 0.32 meters. Abbas achieved his
best result today in his sixth and the final attempt.
ĦĦĦĦWu, 19, with season's best of 61.21 meters, said, "It was the first time
for me to participate in Asian Games. I feel really great to take the title. My
opponents were very tough. I played all out in the competition."
ĦĦĦĦFeng Shuyong, a Chinese team official, told Xinhua, "We were not sure if Wu
could win. We just asked him to give his full play.And he did very well."
ĦĦĦĦThe third gold for China emerged from the women's triple jump in which
Huang Qiuyan jumped 14.28 meters, breaking the Asiad record of 14.27 meters set
by her compatriot Ren Ruiping in Bangkok. Huang's teammate Zhang Hao jumped
13.89 meters to grip the silver.
ĦĦĦĦ"Huang is the ace Asian athlete in the event. She did quite well today and
deserved the win." Feng Shuyong said.
ĦĦĦĦBesides China, Ham Pong Sil from the Democratic people's Republic of Korea
shone in the Busan athletics arena on Sunday, taking the gold of the
42.195-kilometer marathon race, the only athletics gold for her motherland.
ĦĦĦĦThe DPR Korea top female marathoner, 28, finished the race in two hours, 33
minutes and 34 seconds.
ĦĦĦĦ"I felt exhausted when I covered about 37 kilometers, but strength came
back to me again as I realised that leader Kim Jong Il might be watching me,"
Ham said.
ĦĦĦĦHam wrapped around her left wrist with a white cloth, on which the word
"bravery" was written in Korean with blood.
ĦĦĦĦShe told reporters that "the cloth was given by the people of my country"
and it also gave her strength during the race.
ĦĦĦĦThe other four golds were distributed to India in women's 4x400m relay
race, Thailand in men's 4x100m relay race, Kyrgyzstanin women's high jump and
Saudi Arabia in men's 4x400m relay race. Enditem
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