Jayasinghe hurt, Ito flies
Tracking the road to victory
Posted: Sunday December 13, 1998 03:09 PM
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Perfect 10: Japan's Koji Ito couldn't hold back his excitement after he clocked a 10.00 in the semifinals of the men's 100 meters AP |
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- World sprint silver medallist Susantika Jayasinghe, under investigation on a drugs charge, said she pulled a muscle in qualifying Sunday and was in doubt for the final of the Asian Games 100-meter event.
"I pulled a hamstring in the race and I'm having a severe headache," Jayasinghe said before charging away from reporters. "I'm going to see a doctor and I'm hoping for the best."
There were no obvious signs of something as serious as a hamstring injury as Jayasinghe, the 200 silver medallist at last year's Athens world championships, crossed the line in 11.30 seconds. She had been expected to win the sprint double comfortably here and the 100 final is Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Japan's Koji Ito went into raptures when he smashed the Asian record in the semifinals of the men's 100, clocking 10.00.
He leaped around, threw his arms in the air and puffed out his chest as if he had already won the gold medal.
Ito's Japanese colleague Kenji Takao was just as excited after winning the 10,000-meter race by outsprinting Qatar's Ahmed Hashim down the last 50 meters. The 23-year-old from Kyoto won the last of five track and field finals decided Sunday.
Jayasinghe tested positive for a steroid in March and is competing while the International Amateur Athletic Federation waits to hold an arbitration meeting to decide her fate.
The Sri Lankan federation dismissed the charge after she maintained she took the drug, Nandralone-19, to control her menstrual cycle.
If the IAAF rules against her, Jayasinghe would lose any medals won here.
Ito, who held the 100 record jointly with fellow Japanese Noburharu Asahara at 10.08, got a break when the wind dropped slightly and gave him a tailwind just under the maximum allowable limit. Earlier he clocked 10.03 in the heats, only to have a record denied because of the strong winds at the main stadium.
"I didn't think I would run these times today but I felt very relaxed," Ito said.
Ito's teammate Koji Murofushi proved he was forged from the same stuff as the "Iron Man of Asia" when he joined famous father Shigenobu as an Asian Games hammer champion.
But Koji has to win four more titles over the next 16 years to match Shigenobu, who earned his "Iron Man" nickname by winning the event from Bangkok in 1970 to Seoul in 1986.
Koji broke his own national record Sunday with 78.57 meters to beat Uzbekistan's Andrey Abduvaliev, who was well off his best with 77.14 and fouled on his final three attempts.
"What I did today was more than I had expected. I didn't imagine the competition would turn out this way," said Koji, who led the whole way and improved his record for the fifth time this year.
Abduvaliev has a best distance of 82.66 meters and Murofushi apologized to him after the event. "I said `I'm sorry that I won,' and he replied `Well done,"' Koji said.
Japan's Yoko Ota claimed the gold medal in the women's high jump while her compatriot Miki Imai, the Asian champion, lagged in fourth.
In a tight competition, Ota jumped 1.88 meters to beat China's Jin Ling on a countback. Imai was one of four, including bronze medalist Anna Chertrova of Kyrgyzstan, to end at 1.84.
Yu Guohui claimed China's first track and field gold medal at these games with a comfortable victory in the men's 20-kilometer walk.
Yu took more than two minutes off his previous best time in recording 1 hour, 20 minutes, 25 seconds, a games record.
Luan Zhili added a gold for China in the women's discus. Her best throw of 63.43 put the world championship finalist well clear of compatriot Liu Fengyin (59.34) and India's Neelam J. Singh (55.09).
India's veteran sprinter P.T. Usha, making her swan song at the Asian Games, scrambled through to the women's 400-meter final. Usha, 33, retired for eight years before her surprise return at the Asian championships in July, where she grabbed a bronze medal.
In 1984, she became India's best performer at an Olympic track meet, missing out on the 400 bronze by just .01 seconds.
Asian champion Damayanthi Darsha of Sri Lanka won Usha's semifinal comfortably, finishing in 52.48 seconds. Usha, tucked in Lane 1, struggled in blustery conditions and was fourth in 54.63 but qualified seventh fastest into Monday's final. Second fastest was Kazakstan's Svetlana Bodritskaya.
"I could have done better but it's a fast track and I don't like running on fast tracks," said Usha, who had suffered a hamstring injury last month.
Usha said she would contest the 200 as well as the 400 here.
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