China topped the medals tally again at the 16th Asian Athletics
Championships in Incheon, South Korea. The games that ended on
Sunday saw China take home 15 golds, seven silvers and?10
bronzes. Although Chinese athletes bagged 19 golds at the last
championships two years ago, this year's haul was enough to send
them to the top of the medals table.
Huang Xiaoxiao stormed to victory in the women's 400 meters
hurdles to earn China their 15th gold medal in the final day's
competition at the Munhak Stadium on Sunday.
Huang, who finished fifth in the Helsinki World Championships
last month, proved she was in a class of her own in Asia, winning
by a margin of 0.76 seconds.
The 22-year-old led all the way and clocked 55.63 seconds. She
beat the championship record of 55.66 seconds she set at the Manila
Asian Championships two years ago.
"My coach told me to run between 55 and 56 seconds, but I know
that it's enough to win the gold by running 56 seconds," Huang
said.
Malaysia's Noraseela Mohd Khalid finished second in 56.39
seconds, and Japan's Makiko Yoshida won the bronze in 56.85
seconds.
In the 4 x 400m women's relay, Huang and her teammates failed to
clinch the gold, finishing a disappointing fourth in a time of
three minutes 37.11 seconds.
Japan finished second overall in the tally with six golds, five
silvers and 12 bronzes, and Qatar was third with six golds, three
silvers and three bronzes, thanks mostly to their middle and long
distance runners. Hosts South Korea finished seventh with one gold,
seven silvers and one bronze.
The next Asian Athletics Championships will be held in Beirut,
Lebanon, in 2007.
(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)
