THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018 20 Odiong claims sprint double Yaqob Salem added a bronze in Men’s 200m final lifting Bahrain’s medal tally to 18, including 9 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze

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didiong Odiong of Bahrain pipped India’s Dutee Chand for the second time in three Edays to win the women’s gold and claim the prestigious sprint double at the yesterday. Wei Yongli of again came third to claim bronze in an exact repeat of the top three places in Sunday’s 100m sprint final at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Yaqob Salem added a second medal for Bah- rain after coming third in the Men’s 200m final. Having reached the final after coming third in his semi-final heat, Salem showed strength through- out this short-distance race and managed to finish in the top three to secure the competition’s bronze in 20.55 seconds. Japan’s Yuki Koike secured the gold in 20.23 seconds and was followed by Chunhan Yang of Taipei, who timed 20.23. The result lifted Bahrain’s medal tally to 18, in- cluding 9 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze to level their gold medal record in the 2014 Games. Long-distance runner Alsadik Mikhou and Mohammed Ayoob gave Bahrain hope of anoth- er medal at the games as they timed 3:50.75 and 3:46.40 minutes, respectively, in the men’s 1,500m heats to reach the final race, scheduled for today. Ali Khamis led a six-athlete team of Abbas Abubakr, Abraham Rotich, Yaqob Salem, Mousa Isa and Abdulrahman Khamis to a third-place finish in the men’s 4x400m relay first round. Clocking a total time of 3 minutes and 6.29 seconds, the Bahraini men’s team were behind first-placers Qatar (3:06.08) and runners up Japan (3:06.11). In the women’s 4x100m relay, Salwa Naser, Edidiong Odiong, Iman Isa and Hajer Al Khaldi Bahrain’s Edidiong Odiong (R) wins the final of the women’s 200m athletics event

also reached the final after coming second in 43.86 seconds. They were behind China Medal list (43.66) and ahead of third-placers Taipei (45.17) Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Elsewhere, Yahiaaldien Khalifa came 13th in the cycling track men’s 4,000m qualifica- 1 China 102 67 50 219 tion race at Jakarta International Velodrome. 2 Japan 52 47 63 162 Khalifa timed 5 minutes and 3.289 seconds 3 South Korea 37 42 50 129 in this 16-lap race to miss on a place in the 4 Indonesia 30 22 36 88 final race. 5 IR Iran 19 16 17 52 In the shorter sprint, the 21-year-old Odi- 6 Taiwan 13 17 21 51 ong won in a photo-finish over India’s Chand 7 Uzbekistan 12 17 16 45 but was a clear winner yesterday, clocking 8 North Korea 12 8 11 31 9 India 11 20 23 54 22.96 seconds. 10 Thailand 9 13 36 58 She became the fourth woman to win the 11 Bahrain 9 3 6 18 sprint double in a single Asian Games. Chand, who was cleared to race in 2015 following a Court of Arbitration for Sport Asian woman to break the 11 seconds barrier in (CAS) ruling on gender testing guidelines, the 100m, had to be satisfied with another bronze. finished with a creditable double silver after finishing in 23.20 seconds. Youngest medallist “I am very happy to win two silver medals There were celebrations among home fans as In- in sprint,” Chand told reporters. “I achieved donesia’s Bunga Nyimas, 12, became the Games’ my personal best in the 200m semi-finals on youngest medallist, in the debutant sport of skate- Tuesday and gave my all. The body didn’t boarding. Nyimas took bronze in the women’s recover sufficiently so I couldn’t give a good street category behind Margielyn Didal of the timing in the final. Philippines and Kaya Isa, who collected Japan’s “But I am satisfied that I will be the first 3,000th medal in Asian Games history. Indian woman to take back Shi Tingmao emulated Chinese two individual silver medals diving greats Wu Minxia and Guo from track. That’s history for Jingjing with her fourth gold med- me.” al, in the synchronised 3m spring- God has given me board, as China stayed perfect in Cash award a lot of trouble the competition with four wins The Lausanne-based CAS in since 2014. I out of four. 2016 suspended the governing suffered a lot. Vietnam interrupted Indonesia’s International Association of Nobody could clean sweep in the home-grown Athletics Federations (IAAF) martial art of pencak silat when regulations regarding hyper- have suffered so Nguyen Van Tri and Tran Dinh androgenism, a condition much. But I came Nam won two of the total of 16 which produces high testos- back to give two golds on offer. terone levels. medals to India And Uzbekistan’s run in anoth- The 22-year-old from Od- -- it will be a big er debut martial art, kurash, was isha has long lived with the celebration back halted when Iran’s Elyas Ali Akbari condition and for a year was home won the men’s -81kg category. unable to run in IAAF compe- Himalayan nation Nepal won its tition. DUTEE CHAND first medal with silver in the men’s “God has given me lot of team cross-country paragliding -- trouble from 2014 till 2017. I ending a 20-year podium drought don’t think any athlete has gone through stretching back to Bangkok 1998. what I have experienced,” she said, add - Earlier yesterday, China grabbed gold in the ing that the chief minister of her state had men’s and women’s 20km walk. already offered a cash award for her 100m Yang Jiayu’s women’s gold means the country silver. has won the event at each of the five Asian Games “I want to thank everyone who helped me in which it has been held since 2002. during my dark times. This wouldn’t have Wang Kaihua won the men’s competition mak- been possible without their support.” ing it eight of the last nine Asian Games that China China’s Wei, who recently became the first has bagged gold.