Ito misses joining sub-10 club
Sri Lanka wins first Asian Games golds in 24 years
Posted: Monday December 14, 1998 01:01 PM
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Japan's Koji Ito celebrates setting an Asian record of 10.00 seconds in the men's 100-meter dash AP |
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Japan's Koji Ito rebounded from a slow start to claim honors Monday as Asia's fastest man, and looked on the bright side of not joining the exclusive club of sprinters faster than 10 seconds.
"At least I excited everyone," he said after winning the 100 meters in 10.05. He had raised hopes by setting an Asian record of 10.00 in Sunday's semifinals.
Sri Lanka's Susantika Jayasinghe, favored in the women's 100, didn't start at all. After pulling a hamstring in Sunday's semifinals, she went home Monday.
"This morning we took her to the clinic and it was apparent that she cannot run. She wanted to go back home as soon as possible," said Sri Lankan team chief Maya Gunasekhara.
Other runners gave Sri Lanka its first two Asian Games gold medals in 24 years -- within less than an hour.
But Asia's co-hosts for the 2002 World Cup soccer finals -- South Korea and Japan -- suffered the embarrassment of not reaching the Asian Games semifinals. Japan went out in the second round, and Thailand upset South Korea in the quarterfinals Monday, 2-1, on Thatwachai Damrong-Ongtrakul's 40-meter goal six minutes into extra time, when the Thais were down to nine men.
Iran joined the Thais in the semifinals with an easy 4-0 victory over Uzbekistan. Bayern Munich star Ali Daei scored three goals within seven minutes in the second half.
In other quarterfinals, China beat Turkmenistan 3-0 and Kuwait defeated Qatar in a penalty shootout 3-1 after 150 minutes of scoreless play. In the semifinals Wednesday, China meets Iran and Thailand takes on Kuwait.
On the track, Ito was the slowest of the eight finalists out of the blocks, costing him any chance of becoming the first non-black athlete to crack 10 seconds for the 100.
Thailand's Seeharwong Reanchai edged Japan's Yasukatsu Otsuki for the silver medal in a photo finish after both clocked 10.31.
With Jayasinghe gone in the women's 100, China's Asian record holder Li Xuemei won in a wind-aided 11.05 seconds, ahead of teammate Li Yali. Li Xuemei said she hardly slept overnight because of diarrhea and a fever.
Sri Lankans won both the men's and women's 400 meters.
Damayanthi Darsha won the women's in 51.57 seconds, comfortably ahead of China's Chen Yuxiang, who struggled to a 52.50 finish. P.T. Usha, India's star before retiring eight years ago, finished sixth in 54.37 in a return to the track.
In the next race, Sugath Tillekeratne held off Qatar's Ibrahim Faraj in the men's 400, winning 44.99 to 45.32.
"This is the first time that Sri Lanka has won a gold medal in 24 years," Darsha said. "I am extremely happy, not only because I have won the gold but it was my coach who had won the last gold in 1974."
Coach Sunil Gumawardeme was a member of the 1974 winning 4x100-meter relay team.
Aside from Li's victory in the women's 100, China had golds in the women's 10-kilometer walk, by Liu Hongyu; the men's shot put, by Liu Hao, and the heptathlon, where Shen Shengfei amassed 5,817 points for the seven events. Kazakhstan's Svetlana Kazanina was second at 5,775.
That and a victory in mixed doubles table tennis boosted its total for the games to 84 gold medals.
For the second consecutive day, South Korea was the biggest winner, piling up seven golds and lifting its total to 43. The Koreans won three in Greco-Roman wrestling, one in women's team foil fencing and one in weightlifting. In addition, Lee Yong-sun won the women's javelin event and cyclist Ji Sung-hwan beat Olympic bronze medalist Takanobu Jumonji of Japan in the men's 1-kilometer
time trial.
Japan had 34, gaining gold Monday from Ito, women's 10,000-meter winner Yuko Kawakami, and Miya Tachibana, who won the solo synchronized swimming.
India and Qatar won their first golds of these games, in the women's and men's 1,500-meter races.
India's Jyotirmoy Sikdhar outsprinted China's Wang Qingfen to win the women's 1,500.
Organizers angered jeering Indian fans by playing the wrong anthem at Sikdhar's medal ceremony, so 10 minutes later they brought the medallists out and played the right anthem.
Qatar's Mohamad Taib won the men's 1,500 for the third successive games. He slowed down near the end, waving his rivals closer, then turned around and made a rude gesture down the track.
Hong Kong won two golds Monday, lifting its total to three. Its snooker team beat Thailand for one, and it gained another when Hui Cheung-kwok won the men's masters bowling competition. Taiwan's Chou Miao-lin was the women's winner, boosting her nation's total to 15 gold medals.
Even before their soccer upset, the Thais, who take numbers seriously, were celebrating winning their 13th gold medal of the 13th Asian Games on Sunday -- December 13.
Their original target had been 10 golds at their home games. Their best previous was 12 at the 1966 games in Bangkok.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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