Rypakova retains triple jump Gold, China tops medal table with 12 Gold, 12 Silver, and 9 Bronze

The athletics programme of the Asian Games concluded in style in Jakarta on Thursday (30) as a long-standing Asian record was broken in the final event of the championships.

Qatar’s team included 400m hurdles champion Abderrahman Samba, who got his team off to a good start with a 44.5 lead-off leg. Mohamed Nasir Abbas and Mohamed El-Nour maintained the team’s lead before individual 400m champion Abdalelah Haroun anchored the team to victory in 3:00.56.

The quartet not only obliterated the Qatari record of 3:02.50 set in 2015, but they also took 0.2 off the Asian record of 3:00.76 set by Japan at the 1996 Olympic Games.

India clocked 3:01.85 to secure the silver medal from Japan, who recorded 3:01.94.

Rypakova and Chuaimaroeng (right) after winning gold and silver, respectively

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s 2012 Olympic champion Olga Rypakova maintained her remarkable domination of the women’s triple jump in Asia.

Her first valid jump, 14.00m, would have been sufficient to top the podium, but the 33-year-old improved to 14.26m in the fifth round to officially retain the triple jump title she had won in 2010 and 2014.

Thailand’s Parinya Chuaimaroeng and Vietnam’s Vu Thi Men both jumped 13.93m, but the former took silver on countback.

Kalkidan Gezahegne Befkadu, who had won the 5000m earlier in the Games, triumphed in the women’s 1500m in 4:07.88. She became just the second athlete of the Games, after sprinter Edidiong Odiong, to win two individual titles.

Her performance also marked Bahrain’s third successive victory in this event at the Asian Games. Tigist Belay made it a Bahraini 1-2, taking silver in 4:09.12, while India’s Asian champion Chitra Palakeezh was third in 4:12.56.

China, as they have done from 1986 onwards, topped the athletics medals table with 12 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze. Bahrain finished close behind, though, with 12 gold, six silver and seven bronze. The next Asian Games will be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in 2022.

Detailed story (Day 6)

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