'Iron man's' son wins hammer throw
China continues to dominate Asian Games
Posted: Sunday December 13, 1998 02:45 PM
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Murofushi won gold with a throw of 78.57 meters -- the sixth Asian Games gold medal for the family AP |
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- His father was dubbed Asia's "iron man" after winning the hammer throw at five consecutive Asian Games. Now Koji Murofushi has taken over the family business.
Murofushi won gold Sunday with a throw of 78.57 meters, beating the 77.14 of Uzbekistan's Andrey Abduvaliev, who holds the Asian record at 83.36. Kyrgyzstan's Nikolay Davydor took bronze with 68.10.
Thus the gold is back in the family after a 12-year break. The winner's father, Shigenobu Murofushi, who was here watching, won in 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986.
China's iron women completed seven days of daily world records in weightlifting as Ding Meiyuan set marks for the snatch and total in the over 75-kilogram class.
Her 120 kilograms in the snatch broke the world record of 118.5 set by China's Zhang Nan in May, and her total of 270 beat the mark of 267.5 set by China's Tang Gonghong in April. Aye Aye Aung of Myanmar won the silver with a total of 252.5. Teammate Cui Wenhua won in the men's 105-kilogram class.
Meanwhile, yachting gave Hong Kong and Singapore their first gold medals of these games, although South Korea won gold in six of the 16 divisions.
Windsurfer Lee Lai-Shan, who had given Hong Kong its only Olympic gold medal ever in 1996, gave the territory only its second at an Asian Games, and the first in 12 years.
South Korea's yachting triumphs were among 12 gold medals, making it the big winner of the day and putting it ahead of archrival Japan in the overall gold race.
China's nine for the day gave it 79 in all, South Korea had 36 and Japan had 31, after winning five Sunday -- three in track and field and two in men's golf.
Tied at 14 were Taiwan, which added two in women's golf and one in eight-ball pool Sunday, and Kazakstan, which added two in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Thailand had 13 after winning three of the yachting divisions.
In track and field, some of the drama came in preliminaries.
World 200-meter silver medallist Susantika Jayasinghe, trying to rebound from an investigation of drugs charges, said she pulled a muscle in qualifying and was in doubt for the final of the 100-meter event.
Japan's Koji Ito jumped for joy after setting an Asian record of 10.00 seconds in the semifinals of the men's 100.
Ito's Japanese colleague Kenji Takao was just as excited after winning gold at 10,000 meters by outsprinting Qatar's Ahmed Hashim over the last 50 meters.
Japan had another gold from Yoko Ota in the women's high jump.
For China, which is expected to dominate track and field here, Yo Guohui won the 20-kilometer walk, and Luan Zhili won the women's discus.
South Korea's big collection for the day included victories in the team dressage event of equestrian competition, two in the Asian sport of softball tennis, two in Greco-Roman wrestling and one in shooting.
South Korea also stayed unbeaten in baseball, drubbing Japan 9-2 with help from Lee Byung-kyu's two homers -- a grand slam and a solo shot. It now will meet China in one semifinal Tuesday, with Japan and Taiwan meeting in the other.
China's winnings included three gold medals in yachting, one in men's saber fencing, and Zhou Xiaojing's triumph in all-around rhythmic gymnastics.
In shooting, North and South Korea split the golds in men's center-fire pistol competition.
Competition began in the South Asian sport of kabaddi, a sort of team tag, with defending champion India beating Pakistan 17-9 in a preliminary round game.
Meanwhile, Chinese weightlifting team manager Wei Di said the women weightlifters have not shown their full strength, despite the daily world records here.
"They lift even heavier weights at home," said Wei.
"We can eat more bitterness than foreigners," said Liu Xiuhua, a petite lifter who set a snatch world record of 83.5 kilograms -- close to twice her bodyweight -- in the under 48-kilogram division Monday.
Wei added, "Weightlifting is a sport of poor people. They can cope with hardship and the monotony [of weight training]. All of our team members are from peasant families."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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