Doha sees 19 Asian indoor records

Doha, 24 February 2008.  The third Asian Indoor Athletics Championships concluded at Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence, held from 14-16 February 2008, with outstanding organisation that began with a spectacular opening ceremony held on the indoor track where the championships took place.

A number of guests attended, led by HE Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al Thani, Vice President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, and HE Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, IAAF Vice President, President of the Qatar Athletics Federation and Chairman of the Championships’ Supreme Organising Committee, along with a large crowd that filled the stadium stands, following with enthusiasm the parade of participating nations’ flags and the various performances accompanied by traditional and modern music. The opening ceremony was a crowd celebration that won everyone’s approval.
Then the athletics events began, and with them the breaking of Asian indoor championship records: the men set 9 records, including two Qatari-Asian records. One was set by sprinter Samuel Francis in the 60m final with a time of 6.62 seconds, improving on the previous record of 6.64 seconds held by Chinese sprinter Gong Wei, while his teammate Thamer Ali Kamal set a new record in the 1500m with a time of 3:40.86, improving on the previous record of 3:44.04 held by Qatari runner Deham Najem Bashir.
In the women’s events, 10 Asian indoor records were broken, three of them by Bahraini sprinter Ruqaya Alghasara: two in the 400m, where she set a new Asian indoor record in the heats with a time of 54.12 seconds, improving on the previous record of 54.64 seconds held by Kazakhstan’s Tatyana Roslanova. Ruqaya Alghasara then broke the record again in the final with a time of 53.28 seconds, while her third record came in the 60m with a time of 7.40 seconds, improving on the record previously held by Chinese sprinter Zhu Yingting.
 Saudi long jumper Mohammed Al Kuwailidi set a new championship and Asian indoor record in the long jump of 8.24m, improving on the previous championship record of 7.94m and the Asian indoor record of 8.23m.
The championships concluded with the lowering of the championship flag by Mr Khalid Abdullah Al Meer, Vice President of the Qatar Athletics Federation and championships director, who handed it to HE Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, First Vice President of the Asian Athletics Association.
The President of the Qatar Athletics Federation gave a closing address in which he thanked and expressed his appreciation to the guests and spectators who attended the championships, the members of the championships’ supreme organising committee, the media and officials, and everyone who contributed to the success of the championships.

Below are the records broken at the third Asian Indoor Athletics Championships – Doha 2008

** CR = Competitions Record ** AR = Asian Indoor Record ** =CR = Equal Record