Athletics Report Asian Youth Games, Nanjing 2013

Asian Youth Games – day two review (20 August 2013)

In very humid conditions China’s athletes dominated day two of the Asian Youth Games, being held in Nanjing, winning eight of the 10 gold medals on offer.

One of the performances of the evening was the win in the boys’ hammer throw by Yuanbo Ding. Carrying the extra pressure of being a local resident of Jiangsu Province’s Lianyungang City, Ding was never troubled taking the title by over 10 metres with a six metres personal best of 73.73m.

“I'm so excited to win,” he said. “At first, I was pretty nervous. I felt better after I threw the hammer the first time.”

Going into the final round Ding had thrown a best of 71.00 metres, but added over two metres to his best on his final attempt.

“Usually, I get my best throw on the second or the third throw, so I was a little surprised indeed. On the last attempt, I felt relaxed so I just threw it."

Coached by Junwei Yang, Ding moved up from 14th on the world under-17 ranking list to third.

The boy’s 100 metres final lived up to expectations built up by close races in the early rounds. But in the final, the less favoured, riding a wave of local support, Zhenkun Xia grabbed the title in 10.71, just ahead of Thailand’s Nutthapong Veerarwongratanasiri and Chinese Taipei’s Chun-Han Yang who both clocked 10.73. Veerarwongratanasiri, who didn’t start well had other dramas in the race, pulling his hamstring on the finish line. Yang was disappointed with his result, refusing to speak to the media after the race.

Fujian Province sprinter, Manqi Ge, who was a semi-finalist the IAAF world youth championships last month, clocked a wind assisted 11.91 as she cruised to victory in the girls’ 100 metres. Coached by Chaoxu Liu, Ge defeated Thailand pair Parichat Charoensuk and Kanchanaporn Sintaksab.

The heat affected many of the athletes in the 1500 metres with many struggling to leave the track after the crossed the line. China’s Guoyu Zhao, from Su Qian city in Jiangsu Province, broke away from the pack with 200 metres remaining to take the title in 4:35.06, just ahead of Indonesia’s Aprilia Kartina.

"Today is the birthday of my coach (Jiang Chao),” Zhao said. “Before the match, I had already told the media through the phone that I would try my best to get the gold medal as his birthday present."

Wei Wang, completed the Chinese double in the 1500m, taking the boys’ race in 4:03.75. A very fresh Wang sprinted a victory lap.

In the boys’ long jump, Chinese Taipei’s Chun-Sheng Huang dominated the event with his first four jumps over seven metres, led by his fourth round leap of 7.23m. It was a terrific battle for the minor medals with both Jie Li (CHN) and Hyunjong Kim (KOR) jumping 6.98m. A count back was required to split the medals, with Li’s second best of 6.98m just ahead of Kim’s 6.94m.

One of the two athletes to stand in the way of a Chinese clean sweep on day two was Thailand’s Mingkamon Koomphon in the girls’ hammer thrower. From her opening throw of 58 metres Koomphon was never headed, in a very consistent series which included five throws over 57 metres. Mingzhu Jiang (CHN) was second with 56.33m.

Hunan Province’s Guilfen Huang (CHN) won the girls’ 400 metres by over two seconds in 53.65 and her team mate Zhihang Xu (CHN) took the boys’ title in 48.39.

China’s national youth champion, Chaoqun Li, from Zhejiang Province, added the Asian Youth Games title to her collection, raising her personal best of 3.80m to 4.00 metres in Nanjing tonight.

David Tarbotton for AdrianSprints.com

READ: ASIAN Youth Games 2013 (Athletics): Preview - Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4