Throwers took centre stage as the 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships got underway in Doha on Sunday (21).
Gong Lijiao and Lyu Huihui of China and Iran&rsquo;s Ehsan Hadadi admirably lived up to their roles as favourites in the shot put, javelin and discus throw, respectively, as they scouted the facilities in the Qatari capital five months before Khalifa Stadium will host the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.
Hadadi, the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, controlled the competition from the opening round and, with victory secured as he entered the ring for the competition's final throw, the 34-year-old gentle giant released a 65.95m championships record to collect his sixth continental title.
"I'm not so young anymore, so I'm taking it step by step," said Hadadi, whose early-season 67.19m effort in Chula Vista, California, ten days ago has him sitting third on the world season's list. "I'm still waiting on who will succeed me in Asia."
His compatriot Behnam Shrijabilou came closest, hitting 60.89m in round two. Still, each of Hadidi's five measured throws sailed further, underscoring his Asian dominance.
Meanwhile, reigning world champion and Diamond League winner Gong Lijiao was equally dominant. Her opening round 18.52m effort was enough to secure her first continental title - and her 17th straight victory - but that was just a rust-buster for the 30-year-old Chinese. She reached 19.18m in the second round to blast the competition out of reach, and backed that up with further throws of 19.13m and 19.00m.
Well back, Noora Jasim was second at 18.00m, a national record for Bahrain, with Gong&rsquo;s teammate, Song Jiayuan, taking bronze with 17.70m.
Lyu captured the first title of these championships, and it didn&rsquo;t take her long. The 29-year-old warmed up with a 64.92m effort in the opening round, adding nearly two metres to the previous championships record to effectively secure her first continental crown. She put it well out of reach in the second round, reaching 65.83m.
&ldquo;I changed a basic element of my technique in my final step - trying not to rush and be as smooth as possible before releasing the javelin,&rdquo; said Lyu, who extended her own Asian record by three centimetres to 67.72m nine days ago.
Annu Rani of India, the bronze medallist at these championships two years ago, moved up a step tonight, courtesy of a 60.22m throw, also from the first round.
No one else breached the 60-metre line. Natta Nachan came closest, reaching 56.01m in the fourth round to finish third with Thailand&rsquo;s first medal of the championships.
<h3>Naser on cruise control</h3>
Salwa Naser was another emphatic winner, returning to the track exactly ten hours after her opening round heat to dominate the final in 51.34.
Running in lane four, the 20-year-old world silver medallist built a clear lead just 40 metres into the race and extended it with every stride until she began to ease up over the final 20 metres. She still finished nearly two seconds clear of Elina Mikhina of Kazakhstan (53.19) and Poovamma Raju Machettira (53.21).
India&rsquo;s Hima Das, the 2018 world U20 champion, pulled up midway through her first round heat, hobbled by a back problem. The extent of her ailment doesn&rsquo;t appear to be serious enough to rule her out of the 4x400m relays later this week.
Naser&rsquo;s was the first of four titles Bahrain captured on the opening day of these championships.
Winfred Mutile Yavi led a 1-2 for tiny Gulf state in the women&rsquo;s 5000m, breaking away for good from teammate Bontu Rebitu with just under 600 metres to go en route to her 15:28.87 victory. It was a personal best for the 19-year-old, a finalist in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2017 World Championships who then took the continental title in the event the following year. She&rsquo;ll return to action in her specialty on Tuesday (23).
Nozomi Tanaka of Japan, whose aggressive front-running tactics reaped a gold dividend over 3000m at the World U20 Championships last July, once again took the lead early on, but it lasted just over seven minutes when she was passed first by Rebitu and then Yavi. She gradually drifted back further, eventually crossing the line a distant eighth.
India&rsquo;s Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav hung on with the leaders for a few more laps, but she too was dropped with just over three laps to go. That made way for teammate Parul Chaudhary&rsquo;s rally in the waning stages to take the bronze in 15:36.03, more than six seconds behind Rebitu, who clocked 15:29.60.
Dawit Fikadu led another 1-2 for Bahrain in the evening-capping men&rsquo;s 10,000m, taking the crown in 28:26.30, exactly five seconds ahead of teammate Hassan Chani. It was the first international laurel for the 23-year-old who led for most the race&rsquo;s second half.
Earlier, John Kibet Koech collected another title for Bahrain with his convincing victory in the 3000m steeplechase, leading for much of the race before crossing the line in 8:25.87, an early season world lead.
Behind him Indian record holder Avinash Mukund Sable turned in a spirited late race charge, passing Japan&rsquo;s Kazuya Shiojiri as the pair approached the final barrier. With his first international medal in hand, the 24-year-old let out a roar and punched the sky as he crossed the line.
That sky above Khalifa Stadium, and the conditions in general, were not only unseasonably cool - chilly even - thanks to the stadium&rsquo;s state-of-the-art air-cooling system. The crowd attending the opening night of the test event for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 was even treated to a rare if brief rain midway through the evening session.
Elsewhere on the infield, Ernest John Obiena had a good night in the pole vault, first equalling then breaking his own Philippines national record to collect his first major title in the evening's closest competition.
The 23-year-old worked hard for it too, topping 5.56m and 5.61m with his third tries, but still trailing China's Zhang Wei and Huang Bokai who sailed clear at 5.66m on their first attempts. After missing on his first go, Obeini topped 5.71m on his first try, a lifetime best by five centimetres. It was a bar too high for the Chinese pair, who were forced to settle for silver and bronze after bowing out at 5.71m.
Twelve titles will be decided on day two which will be capped by the finals in the men's and women's 100m.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Throwers took centre stage as the 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships got underway in Doha on Sunday (21).

Gong and Hadadi dominate, Bahrain takes four titles on the track as Asian Championships kick off in Doha

Only four of the medallists from the 2013 World
Championships made it to the final here, so there was a good chance for new
faces on the podium.Both the defending champion German Christina Obergfoll and Olympic
champion and world record-holder Barbora Spotakova were in the competition, but
neither has been near their best for this season, which threw the competition wide
open.The final started with the Chinese duo getting the crowd
warmed up, taking the lead after first-round efforts of 64.10m for Li Lingwei
and 63.80m for Lyu Huihui. Obergfoll and Spotakova both fouled their opening throws
and world leader Sunette Viljoen of South Africa managed just a 60.18m opener.Little happened in the second round, the biggest change
being Viljoen moving into third place with 63.09m. But then the competition
heated up in round three, with the lead changing from one throw to another.First to throw from all athletes, defending champion Obergfoll
took the lead with her third throw, landing at a 64.61m season&rsquo;s best. Then Lyu,
who finished fifth at the 2012 Olympics, bettered that with a 64.72m season&rsquo;s
best to take the lead back to China with just an 11-centimetre margin.But she didn&rsquo;t keep her place at the top for long, because
the next thrower, Germany&rsquo;s Katharina Molitor, threw 64.74m to better Lyu&rsquo;s
mark by just two centimetres. The 31-year-old was in unfamiliar territory; before
today, her best championship finishes had been fifth at the 2011 World
Championships and sixth at the 2012 Olympics.There was heartbreak for Spotakova, who needed to improve on
her second-round throw of 59.54m, but her third attempt landed at 60.08m, just
80 centimetres short of a place in the final three rounds.Viljoen regained the lead in the fourth round with 65.79m and
Germany&rsquo;s Christin Hussong also progressed to 62.98m, but was still in sixth.With the Chinese crowd roaring, Lyu took advantage of the
support and produced a 66.13m Asian record with her fifth throw to take the
lead. But the competition was not over.No one throwing before Lyu in the final round improved on
their position. Lyu took her last throw, but at 63.72m it wasn&rsquo;t an
improvement, so it all came down to Molitor, the last thrower in the
competition, competing at her third World Championships.She unleashed her throw high and powerfully to reach a
world-leading PB of 67.69m to secure the gold medal; the third for Germany in
the past four editions of the World Championships.Lyu&rsquo;s silver was China&rsquo;s first medal in the women&rsquo;s javelin since
Xu Demei won the gold in Tokyo in 1991. Replicating their finish from 2011, Viljoen
and Obergfoll finished third and fourth respectively.Li&rsquo;s fifth-place finish with 64.10m was three places higher
than her performance in Moscow two years ago. Hussong, whose 65.92m was the
best throw in qualification, was sixth in the final with 62.98m.Mirko Jalava for the
IAAF

Only four of the medallists from the 2013 World Championships made it to the final here, so there was a good chance for new faces on the podium.

Report: women’s javelin final – IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015

The Chinese outdoor season started at the weekend (27-28) in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, with some surprisingly good results.As usual in China, the women’s throwers were strong, even in the absence of World Hammer bronze medallist Zhang Wenxiu and World Discus champion Li Yanfeng. In the Javelin, 23-year-old Lu Huihui set an Asian record of 65.62m to defeat Li Lingwei (60.87m).It meant that Lu regained the Asian record that she lost to Li, after her 64.95m from this meeting last year was bettered by her compatriot two months later with 65.11m. Lu, who finished fifth at last year’s Olympics, now moves to second on the 2013 world lists behind World champion Mariya Abakumova’s 69.34m.On the track, the spotlight was on 26-year-old Zhang Peimeng, who had already shown his class indoors this year when breaking the national indoor 200m record (20.75) and setting a 6.58 PB for 60m. The Beijing athlete has been a promising sprinter since 2007, when he progressed to 10.27, but never really fulfilled those promises until Saturday afternoon.Despite his good form, Zhang wasn’t even the favourite to win the race. Instead, all eyes were on Guangdong athlete Su Bingtian, who was running before the home crowd and had set 6.55 60m national indoor record in March. The 23-year-old also held the 100m national record with 10.16 from 2011 and ran a wind-assisted 10.04 last season.But in the final Su could not respond to Zhang’s strong performance. Even the TV cameras were all directed at Su running in lane six, but from half way it was clear that Zhang in lane three would be the winner.He clocked 10.04 (1.6m/s) to set a national record, cutting a massive 0.12 seconds off the previous mark and equalling Michael Rodgers’ world-leading time (which was bettered two days later by Japanese teenager Yoshihide Kiryu). Su was second in 10.23 and Chen Qiang third in a PB of 10.29.Olympic bronze medallist Gong Lijiao had a convincing outdoor debut with a 19.97m toss, her best ever start (previous one 19.86m in 2011). Fellow Olympic finalists Liu Xiangrong and Li Ling finished second and third respectively with 18.48m and 17.77m.World finalist Tan Jian won the Discus with 62.56m to beat Song Aimin (61.65m), while 20-year-old Gu Siyu was third with a 60.93m personal best. In the Hammer, 21-year-old Wang Lu emerged as a surprise winner with a 69.39m PB, more than three-and-a-half metres farther than her previous best.In the 100m Hurdles, the season started promisingly for China as 20-year-old Wu Shujiao won her first race of the season in 13.08 – just 0.10 shy of her PB from last September. One of the oldest competitors, 30-year-old Zhang Rong, also came close to her PB with 13.15 for second place, while 19-year-old Wang Dou was third in 13.19, smashing her previous PB of 13.40.Ren Mengqian won the pole vault with a 4.40m personal best and, as usual, Zheng Xingjuan topped the High Jump with a 1.88m clearance. The women’s 100m was won by Wei Yongli in a wind-assisted 11.32 (2.6m/s).On the men’s side it looks as though the 200m national record could also be bettered this season. 19-year-old Xie Zhenye – who finished fifth at the World Junior Championships last year and already shares the national record with 20.54 from 2012 – set a 100m PB with 10.31 on Saturday and then won the 200m in 20.71, just 0.17 seconds slower than the national record in his first race of the season.In the 110m Hurdles, Xie Wenjun – the current Chinese No.1 in the absence of Liu Xiang – started his 2013 season well. The 22-year-old won in 13.44, just 0.10 off his 13.34 PB from the London Olympics semi-finals. Jiang Fan was second in 13.57 and newcomer Lu Anye third in 13.67 personal best. Most Chinese athletes tend to achieve good results at an early age, but Lu is different as he only began competing in national-level competitions at the age of 20 and has slowly progressed to the top.Wang Yu – the 21-year-old who jumped 2.30m indoors this year – opened his outdoor campaign with a 2.24m win in the High Jump. National record-holder Yang Yansheng won the Pole Vault with 5.40m, but the second and third best vaulters in the country, Xie Changrui and Zhang Wei, were not competing.The Chinese season will continue with another National Grand Prix in Jinan 11-12 May and the National Games will start with the Race Walking competitions in Shenyang, Liaoning Province 10-12 May and Marathon in Yingkou (Liaoning) on 18 May.Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

China's Lu Huihui improves Asian Javelin record to 65.62m

Organisers of the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Beijing have announced another raft of top names that will grace their meeting on 21 May, including both of the 2011 IAAF World Championships gold medallists in the javelin, Germany’s Mattias De Zordo and Russia’s Mariya Abakumova.De Zordo will face the strong Czech pair of Jakub Vadlejch and Petr Fredrych while Abakumova, who has already thrown 69.34m this year when winning at the European Cup Winter Throwing last month, will have opposition from Australia’s Kathryn Mitchell and a very good Chinese trio of Lu Huihui, Li Lingwei and Zhang Li.Both De Zordo and Abakumova had Olympic Games to forget, neither getting on the podium and De Zordo did not even make the final after three no throws in qualifying due to injury, and so they will want to test themselves ahead of the defence of their World titles this summer.The men’s High Jump brings together Russia’s 2010 European champion Alexander Shustov and his young compatriot Nikita Anishchenkov, who took the 2011 European junior title, as well as two talented 21-year-old Chinese high jumpers: Zhang Guowei, who jumped a Chinese indoor record of 2.32m in Nanjing last month and Wang Yu, who jumped 2.30m indoors this winter.At the same Nanjing meeting, triple jumper Dong Bin set an Asian indoor record of 17.12m and, boasting of an outdoor best of 17.35m, he is one of the emerging Chinese men’s talents looking to fill the hole left by the absence this year, due to injury, of the 2004 Olympic Games 110m Hurdles champion Liu Xiang. In Beijing, Dong will face the 2012 Chinese outdoor champion Cao Shuo with the European challenge led by Greek record-holder Dimitrios Tsiamis and Italy’s Fabrizio Schembri.Lowe to HighThe meeting organisers have recruited the USA’s 2012 World Indoor Championships High Jump gold medallist Chaunte Lowe to give Russia’s previously announced Olympic and World champion Anna Chicherova some opposition and Lowe’s compatriot Funmi Jimoh leads the women’s Long Jump field.In addition to the top Chinese women Javelin exponents, it’s no surprise that several of the country’s other top female throwers will also be in action in the famous Bird’s Nest stadium, including 2012 Olympic Games Shot Put bronze medallist Gong Lijiao and hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu, who took an Olympic Games bronze medal in the same stadium five years ago and who also has two World Championships bronze medals to her name.A notable addition to the names already announced for the track events is US hurdler Kellie Wells, who won the Olympic Games 100m Hurdles bronze medal in London last summer.One of the aims of Beijing hosting IAAF World Challenge meetings in 2013 and 2014 is to accumulate experience ahead of the 2015 IAAF World Championships, which will be staged in the Chinese capital, and train the officials who will be in charge during that event.Phil Minshull and organisers for the IAAF

Javelin world champions De Zordo and Abakumova added to Beijing field - IAAF World Challenge

Javelin World champions De Zordo and Abakumova added to Beijing field - IAAF World Challenge

Many of China’s leading long throwers started their season in on home soil in Chengdu with some impressive results on Sunday (31), especially hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu, who finished fourth at the London 2012 Olympics Games.Now 27, she had an impressive start to the season with a 74.18m winning throw, the second best start to her season other than the 75.72m Asian record she achieved in this same meet last year.Zhang has won an Olympic Games bronze in 2008 and two IAAF World Championships silver medals, in &nbsp;2007 and 2011, so will surely be looking for another medal this summer in Moscow. She might face some domestic competition in 2013 as well, with 25-year-old Wang Zheng throwing a personal best 72.46m on Sunday. Wang has been quiet for a couple of seasons since reaching her previous best of 71.19m in June 2010. Coincidentally that meeting, in Chongqing, was the last time Zhang was defeated by a Chinese athlete and the latter has gone nearly three years without a loss in her home country.In the women’s Javelin, London 2012 Olympic Games finalist Lu Huihui won with a toss of 63.47m, barely a metre less than her season’s best 64.48m in Chengdu two weeks ago. Lu had not thrown over 60-metre line before the 2012 season but, since the start of last year, she has competed 13 times and thrown over that mark each time. In this competition, the Asian record holder Li Lingwei (65.11m in 2012) was second with 60.14m.In the absence of the best discus throwers, Su Xinyue topped the women’s competition with a 59.05m season starter.On the men’s side, 29-year-old Wu Tao from Liaoning returned to close to his best form and won with 60.08m, his first throw over 60 metres for almost four years. Wu’s personal best is 64.28m from 2005 and he is a former World junior champion from 2002. The National Games later this year one of the main reasons that many athletes are raising their level and it’s also not a coincidence that many former bests or, in the case of Wu, good results were achieved four years ago. The same happened in the men’s Hammer where for the first time in China two athletes reached 73 metres in the same competition with 25-year-old Qi Dakai added more than a metre to his 2009&nbsp; best of 72.49m when winning with a throw of 73.34m. Not far behind, 24-year-old Liaoning athlete Wang Shizhu had not beaten the 70 metres before this meet, but that changed here as Wang launched a 73.25m best for second place. The National Games will be held in the Liaoning province for the first time in September 2013 and it’s not unusual that the athletes from the organizing province to try to be at their very best in front of their home crowd. Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

Zhang Wenxiu's Moscow medal mission starts in Chengdu