By Adala Anvith Reddy
OCA Youth Reporter from India
Nagoya, Japan, September 23: China’s athletics team made a strong start in the women's half marathon race walk on Wednesday. Yang Liujing and Jiang Yunyan bagged the gold and bronze medals, respectively, while Kazakhstan’s Kristina Morozova won silver.
The race began at 7.30 in the morning, and competitors faced cloudy conditions with rain and drizzle before the weather gave way to sunshine
Yang, 28, won her first Asian Games gold with an impressive time of 1:33:40, while Morozova, 25, came second in 1:35:25. Jiang, 23, rounded up the podium with a time of 1:35:26.
When asked about the race, Yang said: “I think it was a good race overall. The weather was favorable after the first half and, since I specialize in the 20km category, it was not so difficult for me to adapt to this format as compared to the other competitors.”
On a similar note, Morozova said: “It was a challenging match for me since I had to stay focused on the tempo to keep up with the Chinese athletes. Overall, I am thankful to the federation for all the trust and support they have placed in me.”
Bronze medal-winner Jiang expressed disappointment. “This was not the ideal result that I was expecting going into the race. Overall, I am very disappointed with my result since I was expecting gold.”