Hangzhou, China, October 2, 2023: Powerhouses China and Bahrain had to share the limelight with Japan, Iran, Kuwait and Singapore at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium as the athletics programme reached the halfway mark on Monday.
Japan’s Koki Ueyama was crowned the men’s 200 metres champion after a narrow on-the-line victory over Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Abdullah Abkar. Ueyama finished with 20.60, three-hundredths of a second ahead of Abkar. Yang Chun Han of Chinese Taipei won the bronze in 20.74.
The men’s 110m hurdles was an even closer race with Kuwaiti Yaqoub Al-Youha and Japan’s Shunya Takayama finishing in a dead heat. Race officials reviewed the finish for a long time, but couldn’t make a conclusive decision as to who had crossed first, resulting in both athletes being awarded a gold medal with identical times of 13.41. China’s Xu Zhuoyi was third in 13.50.
It was a one-two for Iran in the men’s discus with Hossein Rasouli winning the gold with an effort of 62.04 metres while compatriot Ehsan Hadadi took silver with 61.82. China’s Abuduaini Tuergong was third with 61.19.
Normal service resumed for China as they took gold in the women’s pole vault and women’s long jump.
Teenager Xiong Shiqi won the gold in the long jump with a leap 6.73 to ward off a strong challenge from India’s Sojan Edappilly who had to settle for silver with 6.63. The bronze medal went to Hong Kong China’s Yue Nga Yan who registered 6.50. All three athletes produced personal best performances.
“I came here to learn and didn’t expect to win. I just wanted to experience the atmosphere of competing at the Asian Games. I was a little intimidated by my opponents, but I told myself to just do my best and perhaps a miracle will happen,” said an overjoyed Xiong.
In the women’s pole vault, China’s Li Ling set a new Asian Games record with a 4.63m effort to grab the title for the third successive Games. Japan’s Misaki Morota took the silver with a personal best 4.48 while China’s Niu Chang won bronze with 4.30.
There was plenty of drama in the final event of the night when Sri Lanka’s 4x400m mixed relay team thought they had earned the silver medal only to be disqualified for lane violation. Bahrain raced to gold with India and Kazakhstan taking the silver and bronze respectively.