The curtain officially came down on the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships, held over four days at Khalifa International Stadium with 700 athletes from across the yellow continent taking part.
The final day’s competition saw 13 gold medals awarded across 13 races and events, with our national team taking silver through champion Ashraf Al Seifi in the discus, and two bronzes: one in the 1500m through Musab Ali, and one in the men’s 4x400m relay, in which our team finished fourth in 3:03.95 but benefited from India’s team being disqualified for a technical violation to claim bronze, bringing Qatar’s participation in the tough Asian challenge to a close with a total of six medals (two gold, one silver and three bronze).
HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad followed part of yesterday’s competition and expressed his admiration for the outstanding standards of the championships and for what our national team’s athletes achieved.
China topped the championships in both the men’s and women’s categories with a total of 294 points, Japan finished second with 250 points, Bahrain third with 189 points, India fourth with 176 points, Kazakhstan fifth with 79 points, Qatar sixth with 63 points, Chinese Taipei seventh with the same 63 points, Uzbekistan eighth with 60 points, Thailand ninth with 49 points, and South Korea tenth with 44 points.
Here are the main results of the fourth and final day and the winners of the races and events held:
Women’s 100m hurdles
Japan won the women’s 100m hurdles gold as Ayako Kimura took first place after a strong contest with China’s Chen Jiamin.
The 2017 Asian Games silver medallist covered the race in 13.13 seconds, while bronze went to compatriot Masumi Aoki.
Men’s 110m hurdles
In the 110m hurdles, Kuwait celebrated again as their champion Yaqoub Al-Youha won silver with a new national record of 13.35 seconds, while gold went to China’s Shi Wenjun in 13.21 seconds, and bronze to Chinese Taipei’s Chen Kuei-Ru.
Women’s discus
In the women’s discus, China won gold and silver through Feng Bin, with a throw of 65.36m, and Chen Yang with 61.87m, while bronze went to Thailand’s Suriyan Insaeng.
200m
In the men’s 200m, China won gold through Chen Zhen, while silver went to Japan’s Yuki Koike, and bronze to Bahrain’s Yaqoub Salem, and the race also featured Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, who was unable to finish because of injury.
In the same event for women, Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser continued her fine form, winning gold with a new Asian Championships record of 22.74 seconds, while silver went to Kazakhstan’s Olga Safronova, and bronze to India’s Dutee Chand.
1500m women
India won the women’s 1500m gold through 2017 Asian champion P U Chitra in 4:14.56, while Bahrain’s Gashawit Tigist took silver, and her compatriot Winfred Yavi claimed bronze.
5000m men
Bahrain also won the men’s 5000m through Birhanu Balew in 14:28.56, with silver going to compatriot Albert Rop, and bronze to Japan’s Hiroki Matsueda.
4x400m relay women
Bahrain also shone, winning the women’s 4x400m relay gold in 3:32.10, while silver went to India and bronze to Japan.
In the men’s long jump, Japan’s Yuki Hashioka won gold with 8.22m, while silver and bronze went to China’s Zhang Guang and Huang Zhou.
