Five Asian athletics records fall in Incheon

Five Asian records fell on the final day of athletics action on Friday (24 October) at the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games in South Korea.

Four went China’s way, in another impressive day for them on the track, with Lin Zhu setting the first new Asian record in the women’s 200m T13, speeding to glory in 27.55.

Then it was the turn of her compatriot Hao Wang, who won the men’s 400m T47 title in 49.25, just three-hundredths of a second ahead of India’s Sandeep Singh Maan (49.28).

Two Asian records fell in the women’s 400m T11/12, as China’s Cuiqing Liu, a T11 athlete, won gold in 57.75, ahead of compatriot Guohua Zhou, a T12 athlete, in 58.45.

And finally, in the men’s 400m T13, Uzbekistan’s Fakhriddin Khamraev claimed an Asian record on his way to gold in 50.19, beating China’s Bingbing Jiang (52.53) who has topped the podium previously in this competition.

There was also the first gold of the Incheon Asian Para Games for Myanmar, as Win Kyaw Kyaw won the men’s 400m T44 title in 57.40, beating Indonesia’s Wagiyo (58.68) and Sri Lanka’s Lionel Dharmasir Pulhiri Henayalage (59.51).

Elsehwere on the track, Tadashi Horikoshi helped ensure Japan’s third place in the overall medals table with victory in the men’s 1,500m T12 in 4:08.93.

Thailand’s Rawat Tana picked up his countries 10th gold medal in the athletics as he won the men’s 1,500m T54 in 3:06.52, before Kitsana Jorchuy scooped the 11th in the men’s 400m T11 in 54.35.

Further success went China’s way as Huzhao Li won the men’s 400m T53 in 49.83, before Qichao Sun picked up the men’s 400m T12 title in 49.90.

Malaysia also got their final success of the competition as Nasharuddin Mohd won the men’s 400m T20 in 50.67.

Rounding off the field events were three finals.

China’s Yang Liwan won gold in the women’s shot put F53/54, with 7.47m (1,009 points), to beat Brunei’s Fatema Abdulrazzaw Safar Nedham in 4.28m (903) and Iran’s Marziyeh Sedghi Saghinsara in 6.14m (783).

Liwan's teammate Yanlong Fu took home the title in the men’s discus F42 in 41.31m, beating Iran’s Mehrdad Karam Zadeh (40.26m) and China’s Guofeng Kang (38.77m).

Finally, Iran’s Farzad Sepahvand won the men’s discus F44, with a throw of 49.08m ahead of India’s Santhamuthuvel Kesavan (39.70m) and Sri Lanka’s Sanka Kumara Sirisenage (34.63m).

China topped the athletics medals table overall, winning 104 medals (67 gold, 28 silver, nine bronze), ahead of Iran with 72 (21 gold, 33 silver, 13 bronze) and Japan with 42 (14 gold, 15 silver, 13 bronze).

The Asian Para Games saw athletes competing from 41 nations across 23 sports.

The conclusion of the athletics competitions in Incheon follows the announcement that the first ever IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championships will take place in 2016 in Dubai, UAE, from 3-8 March 2016.