China all the way, yet again

China was back at its best in the Asian athletics championships in Manila. From the 10 gold it won in Colombo last year, China swelled its tally to 19 and the overall medals count to 37.

K.P. MOHAN

China was back at its best in the Asian athletics championships in Manila. From the 10 gold it won in Colombo last year, China swelled its tally to 19 and the overall medals count to 37. Not yet comparable to the 26 gold medals that country won in the 1998 meet in Fukuoka, but surely a re-assertion, after the Busan Asian Games, that it was back in serious business when it came to continental athletics.

Though China is yet to regain its lost glory in men's sprints and throws, its women once again underlined their superiority in the regional context by winning 12 of the 21 gold medals, including a clean sweep of the throws.

Barring the absence of World championship bronze medallist high hurdler Liu Xiang and that of decathlete Qi Haifeng and woman discus thrower Song Aimin, China entered all its top stars. At the same time, there was a fair sprinkling of young talent as well, in an effort to get the second rung ready, perhaps for the Olympics at home in 2008. Especially noteworthy were the performances of 18-year-old triple jumper Gu Jinjie, woman pole vaulter Wu Sha, yet to turn 16, and 20-year-old woman discus thrower Xu Shaoyang.

How well the Chinese manage to have a firm grip over their favourite events even as they try out youngsters is a lesson for the rest of the countries. Young talent can be groomed without sacrificing a country's superiority in the medals standings.

The Chinese depth in women's events is all too well known. There was no great surprise as such in their near complete domination of that section. The disappointment, if any, was in the fact that neither their woman sprinters nor their middle distance runners showed any signs of regaining lost ground. It had steadily slipped since 1998 and going by the present trend there seems to be very little scope for immediate transformation.

From the pedestal that they had climbed at the Busan Asian Games, with seven gold medals each, both India and Saudi Arabia slipped badly. India failed to win a gold, while Saudi Arabia had just one, through its world-ranked long jumper Hussein Taher Al-Sabee who pocketed the title with an 8.23 jump.

These were slumps that cannot be explained by the absence of some of the star-performers from both countries in Manila. Most significantly, both countries had gone through a phase of dope-related controversies in the recent past, India at the Asian Games last year and Saudi Arabia at the Colombo Asians last year, leading up to the Asiad in Busan.

The Sri Lankan slide in the medals standings, to just one gold from the three at home last year, could be easily explained in the absence of Susanthika Jayasinghe. Though Damayanthi Darsha was present, unlike in Colombo, where she just ran the relay, her participation in Manila was limited to the heats of the 200 metres. She had a muscle strain and preferred to skip the 400m and eventually the 200m final as well. Susanthika, it was explained, was in the process of preparing herself for the Athens Olympics and would like to concentrate, from now on, only on major meets that would fit into her preparations.

Japan fielded a modest team and as such its collection of one gold, 11 silvers and nine bronze medals exceeded expectations. That lone gold came from triple jumper Kazuyoshi Ishikawa who won a tense, close contest with a pair of Chinese, Gu Junjie and Wu Ji. The absence of top Japanese stars sprinters Shingo Suetsugu and Nobuharu Asahara, hammer thrower Koji Murofushi and some of the leading distance runners robbed the meet of some class.

Qatar, eight gold medals last time, had a lesser share on this occasion, with six golds, but this was an improvement over the Busan Asian Games when it had managed just one gold. The shock for Qatar was in the defeat of its Kenyan import, Saif Saeed Shaheen (nee Stephen Cherono) in the 1500 metres by the Asian Games champion Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain. Later, Shaheen was also beaten in the 5000m by team-mate Abdulrahman Amri Abdelaziz, but he dismissed the defeats as of no consequence.

"I have nothing to prove at this level,'' said Shaheen. "In the 1500m I was tired after the Monaco finals and the trip here.'' The man who clocked a world-leading 12:48.81 in Ostrava, while beating Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, allowed Abdelaziz to tag along and could not respond to the latter's kick on the straight.

"I am a 1500m runner and I knew I could beat him over the final 150 metres,'' said Abdelaziz, a relative newcomer at this level. He admitted that Shaheen had kept encouraging him through the race by talking to him and carrying him along at a convenient pace. The Japanese challenge posed by Nobuyo Matsunga faded completely against such brilliant running under testing conditions.

Shaheen said that the heat and humidity did affect him in the 5000 but it was not a major factor. "I just wanted to make sure that Qatar got the top two medals,'' he said. His defeat in the 1500m will, however, remain a mystery. For, he took off so confidently on the final lap and then slowed down deliberately, as though waiting for Ramzi.

"You don't change pace like that in the 1500,'' said Mohamed Suleiman, the undisputed king of the metric mile in Asia through the 90s and one of the Qatar federation officials now. "It has to be a gradual step up.''

Though Shaheen said that 1500 continued to be his favourite event, he might not have had enough recent experience in running a metric mile at the highest level. He said that the steeplechase and the 5000m would probably be his events at the Athens Olympics. At the moment, though, his participation in Athens is still a big question mark over the eligibility issue.

Though Shaheen disappointed, another favourite in the distance events, China's Sun Yingjie obliged. She won the distance double to repeat her Busan Asian Games feat and yet was disappointed that the timings were not befitting her stature. "I am tired,'' she said. Obviously, after having run three races at the World championships, where she won the bronze in the 10,000m, and another 5000m at the National championship at Shanghai before making it to Manila, she was bound to be tired. In October she would be tackling the Beijing marathon!

Barring Sun Yingjie, China could not show any great talent on the track, in the flat races. Chen Haijian lived up to his recent form and reputation by winning the men's short dash in 10.25s, but the best of the Japanese were missing there and so, too, the Asian Games champion Jamal Al-Saffar of Saudi Arabia.

Without Sunanthika Jayasinghe in the fray, the women's sprints were left for Uzbek Lyubov Perepelova to dominate. The silver winner in the 100m at the Busan Asian Games, completed the sprint double this time, though the timings of 11.43 and 23.11 were nothing much to rave about.

The biggest surprise of the championships, in the women's section, was the 400-800 double by Myanmar's Yin Yin Khine. The 26-year-old from Mandaley, making her continental debut, was a fluent winner in both. Her front-running in the 800 metres looked to be a suicidal strategy, but she held on without much trouble on the straight to ward off the challenge posed by Kazakhstan's Tatyana Roslanova. A personal best of 2:01.96 from a previous best of 2:04.7 was a huge improvement for this unknown wom<147,3,7>an from Myanmar. These were Myanmar's first gold medals since Khin Khin Htwe won the women's 1500 in New Delhi in 1989.

There was another double, that by Kuwaiti Fawzi Al-Shammari. He won the 200 metres and 400 metres. On form, Saudi Arabian Hamdan Odha Al-Bishi might have been the pre-meet favourite in the 400 metres, but Al-Shammari, with the 44.93 at the Arab Championships at Amman, behind him, ran a calculated race to comfortably beat the Saudi. Hamaed Al-Bishi was the man to be beaten by the Kuwaiti in the 200 metres on the final day.

Adam Abdu Adam Ali of Qatar won a tactical battle over Bahrain's Asian Games champion, Mohammed Rashid in the 800 metres, posting a championship record of 1:46.20 in the process. Both he and the other Qatari, Salam Amer Al Badri were blamed for their tactical blunders at <147,4,0>the last Asian meet, but this time they made it a one-two for their country.

The jumps in either section produced average fare, barring the men's long jump where Saudi Hussein Taher Al-Sabee came up with a series of eight-metre jumps in the final rounds with a best of 8.23m. Mike Powell's trainee had just returned with the silver from the Monaco World Athletics finals and was a very confident jumper in the final, though he was not at his best in the qualifying rounds where Qatari Abdulrahman Al-Nubi was the only man to cross eight metres. In the final, Al-Nubi finished fourth with 7.88m.

Coming back into Asian level competitions after a gap was triple jump record holder Oleg Sakirkin of Kazakhstan. He flopped. But another Kazakh, pole vaulter Grigoriy Yegorov, also back after a long gap, won the gold with a clearance of 5.40m. The Central Asian Republics fared well in the overall perspective, accounting for seven gold medals.

The results:Men:

100m: 1. Chen Haijian (Chn) 10.25, 2. Gennadiy Chernovol (Kaz) 10.27, 3. Salem M. M. Al-Yami (KSA) 10.28, 4. Shingo Kawabata (Jpn) 10.42, 5. Mohammed Farhan (Brn) 10.43, 6. Sitichai Suwornprateep (Tha) 10.48; 200m: 1. Fawzi Al-Shammari (Kuw) 20.70, 2. Hamed Al-Bishi (KSA) 20.73, 3. Yang Yaozu (Chn) 20.82, 4. He Jun (Chn) 21.10, 5. Tatsuro Yoshino (Jpn) 21.14, 6. Yusuke Omae (Jpn) 21.26; 400m: 1. Fawzi Al-Shammari (Kuw) 45.16, 2. Hamdan O. Al-Bishi (KSA) 45.39, 3. Yuki Yamaguchi (Jpn) 46.18, 4. Sugath Tillakeratne (Sri) 46.21, 5. K. J. Manojlal (Ind) 46.77, 6. Rohan Pradeep Kumara (Sri) 46.92.

800m: 1. Adam Abdu Adam Ali (Qat) 1:46.20 (NMR), 2. Salam Amer Al Badri (Qat) 1:46.95, 3. Mohammed Rashid (Brn) 1:47.09, 4. Sajjad Moradi (Iri) 1:47.38, 5. Erkinjon Isakov (Uzb) 1:49.05, 6. lee Jae-Hun (Kor) 1:50.57; 1500m: 1. Rashid Ramzi (Brn) 3:41.66, 2. Saif Saeed Shaheen (Qat) 3:42.79, 3. Fumikazu Kobayashi (Jpn) 3:42.96, 4. Ali Abubaker Kamal (Qat) 3:46.62, 5. Gulab Chand (Ind) 3:46.94, 6. Sunil Jayaweera (Sri) 3:47.39.

5000m: 1. Abdulrahman Amri Abdelaziz (Qat) 13:58.89, 2. Saif Saeed Shaheen (Qat) 13:58.92, 3. Nobuyo Matsunga (Jpn) 14:12.73, 4. Tatsumi Morimasa (Jpn) 14:22.73, 5. Kuldeep Kumar (Ind) 14:34.77, 6. Gulab Chand (Ind) 14:37.36; 10,000m: 1. Ahmad Hassan Abdullah (Qat) 28:45.64 (NMR), 2. Abdulhak Zakaria (Brn) 30:04.13, 3. Edauardo Buenavista (Phi) 30:06.29, 4. Aung Thiha (Mya) 30:57.90, 5. Lee Hong Huk (Kor) 31:15.19, 6. Allan Ballester (Phi) 31:22.21; 3000m steeplechase: 1. Khamis Seifeldin Abdullah (Qat) 8:51.60, 2. Wu Wen-Chien (Tpe) 8:55.38, 3. Yasunori Uchitomi (Jpn) 8:56.31, 4. Rene Herrera (Phi) 9:00.69, 5. Shanta P. Mendis Gunaratne (Sri) 9:01.55, 6. Arun D' Souza (Ind) 9:02.24.

110m hurdles: 1. Shi Dongpeng (Chn) 13.50, 2. Park Tae-Kyong (Kor) 13.71, 3. Wu Youjia (Chn) 13.80, 4. <147,5,0>Tasuku Tanonaka (Jpn) 13.94, 5. Mohammed Essa Al-Thawadi (Qat) 14.05, 6. Suphan Wongsriphuck (Tha) 14.09; 400m hurdles: 1. Sultan Mubarak Al-Nubi (Qat) 49.19, 2. Yevgeniy Melshenko (Kaz) 49.55, 3. Chen Tien-Wen (Tpe) 50.72, 4. Apisit Kuttiyawan (Tha) 50.86, 5. Tan Chunhua (Chn) 51.19, 6. Yosuke Tsushima (Jpn) 51.79.

High jump: 1. Wang Zhouzhou (Chn) 2.23, 2. Bae Kyang-Ho (Kor) 2.19, 3. Loo Kum Zee (Mas) and Naoyuki Daigo (Jpn) 2.19, 5. Cui Kai (Chn) 2.19, 6. Jen Claude Rabbath (Leb) 2.15; Pole vault: 1. Grigoriy Yegorov (Kaz) 5.40, 2. Satoru Yasuda (Jpn) 5.30, 3. Yang Mi-Hui (Tpe) 5.10, 4. Kim Se-In (Kor) 5.10, 5. Nunung Jayadi (Ina) 5.10, 6. Pendar Shoughian (Iri) 5.00; Long jump: 1. Hussein Taher Al-Sabee (Qat) 8.23, 2. Zhou Can (Chn) 8.11, 3. Shinichi Tarano (Jpn) 8.04, 4. Abdulrahman Sultan Al-Nubi (Qat) 7.88, 5. Daisuke Arakawa (Jpn) 7.77, 6. Abdullah Al-Waleed Abdullah (Qat) 7.76; Triple jump: 1. Kazuyoshi Ishikawa (Jpn) 16.72, 2. Gu Junjie (Chn) 16.68, 3. Wu Ji (Chn) 16.67, 4. Mohammed Hamdi Abdulaziz (Qat) 16.49, 5. Mohammad Hazouri (Syr) 16.48, 6. Takanori Sugibayashi (Jpn) 16.23.

Shot put: 1. Saad Bilal Mubarak (Qat) 19.41, 2. Shakti Singh (Ind) 19.04, 3. Khaled Habash Al-Suwaidi (Qat) 18.57, 4. Sultan Al-Hebshi (KSA) 18.51, 5. Sergey Roubatsov (Kaz) 17.92, 6. Kim Jae-Il (Kor) 17.87; Discus: 1. Wu Tao (Chn) 61.43, 2. Abbas Samimi (Iri) 59.51, 3. Anil Kumar (Ind) 59.50, 4. Tulake Nuermaimaiti (Chn) 59.48, 5. Khaled Habbash Al-Suwaidi (Qat) 58.20, 6. Sultan Al-Dawodi (KSA) 57.36; Hammer: 1. Ali Mohammed Al-Zankawi (Kuw) 70.6, 2. Hiroaki Doi (Jpn) 70.11, 3. Dilshod Nazarov (Tjk) 69.90, 4. Nasser Al Husaini (Kuw) 68.64, 5. Victor Ustinov (Uzb) 66.51, 6. Lee Yun-Chul (Kor) 64.56; Javelin: 1. Li Rongxiang (Chn) 79.25, 2. Yukifumi Murakami (Jpn) 77.04, 3. Sergey Voynov (Uzb) 76.09, 4. Park Jae-Myong (Kor) 74.37, 5. Yasutaka Fujiwara (Jpn) 72.55, 6. Rinat Tarzumanov (Uzb) 71.35.

Decathlon: 1. Vitaly Smirnov (Uzb) 8021 (NMR) (10.91, 7.18, 13.80, 2.03, 48.82, 14.69, 42.72, 4.60, 62.23, 4:37.18), 2. Pavel Dubitskiy (Kaz) 7604 (11.07, 7.25, 12.44, 2.15, 51.51, 15.36, 37.97, 4.70, 56.27, 4:47.96), 3. Pavel Andreev (Uzb) 7487 (11.51, 6.79, 14.12, 2.03, 52.47, 15.20, 43.24, 4.70, 57.61, 4:48.92), 4. Masatoshi Ishizawa (Jpn) 7389, 5. Takuro Hirata (Jpn) 7316, 6. Kulwinder Singh (Ind) 7285

4x100m relay: 1. China (Shen Yunbao, He Jun, Yang Yaozu, Chen Haijian) 39.22, 2. Thailand (Vissanu Sophanich, Ekkachai Janthana, Seksan Wonsala. Sittichai Swornprateep) 39.57, 3. Japan (Kazuhiro Tamura, Yusuke Omae, Takayuki Kon, Shingo Kawabata) 39.59, 4. India (Sanjay Ghosh, Sandeep Sarkaria, Piyush Kumar, Anil Kumar) 39.69, 5. Hong Kong 40.07, 6. Sri Lanka 40.29; 4x400m relay: 1. Sri Lanka (Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Ranga Wimalawansa, Prasanna Amarsekhara, Sugath Tillakeratne) 3:03.05, 2. Japan (Yuki Yamaguchi, Masayuki Okusako, Mitsuhiro Sato, Takahiko Yamamura) 3:03.59, 3. Qatar (Yaser Omar Elhaj, Yaser Mohamed Akbar, <147,6,0>Mohamed Abdulrahman Mousa, Salaheldin Elsafi Bakkar) 3:04.32, 4. India 3:05.22, 5. Thailand 3:07.04, 6. Philippines 3:07.27.

20km walk: 1. Han Yucheng (Chn) 1:21:11.3 (NMR), 2. Yuki Yamazaki (Jpn) 1:21:53.3, 3. Bai Liansheng (Chn) 1:22:13.8, 4. Akihiro Sugimoto (Jpn) 1:22:35.3, 5. Sakchai Samutkoa (Tha) 1:29:40.0, 6. Mohammad Saharulhaizy Abdulrahman (Mas) 1:30:08.5

Women:

100m: 1. Lyubov Perepelova (Uzb) 11.43, 2. Qin Wangping (Chn) 11.56, 3. Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 11.57, 4. Zhu Juanhong (Chn) 11.62, 5. Oranut Klomdee (Tha) 11.65, 6. Kaori Sakagami (Jpn) 11.90; 200m: 1. Lyubov Perepelova (Uzb) 23.11, 2. Chen Lisha (Chn) 23.39, 3. Guzel Khubbieva (Uzb) 23.63, 4. Chathurangani De Silva (Sri) 23.98, 5. Ayumi Suzuki (Jpn) 24.03, 6. Ni Xiaoli (Chn) 24.18; 400m: 1. Yin Yin Khine (Mya) 52.96, 2. Bu Fangfang (Chn) 52.97, 3. Svetlana Bodritskaya (Kaz) 53.19, 4. Oksana Luneva (Kgz) 53.24, 5. Zhang Xiaoyuan (Chn) 54.19, 6. Saowalee Kaewchuay (Tha) 54.35.

800m: 1. Yin Yin Khine (Mya) 2:01.96, 2. Tatyana Roslanova (Kaz) 2:02.41, 3. Zamira Amarova (Uzb) 2:02.84, 4. Madhuri A. Singh 2:03.48, 5. Svetlana Lukasehva (Kaz) 2:05.31, 6. Liu Xiaoping (Chn) 2:06.64; 1500m: 1. Tatiana Borisova (Kgz) 4:15.97, 2. Madhuri A. Singh (Ind) 4:17.87, 3. Svetlana Lukasheva (Kaz) 4:23.12, 4. Wang Qi (Chn) 4:24.37, 5. Akemi Ozaki (Jpn) 4:26.67, 6. Kayo Sugihara (Jpn) 4:30.24.

5000m: 1. Sun Yingjie (Chn) 15:48.42, 2. Yuko Manabe (Jpn) 15:59.81, 3. Hiromi Fujii (Jpn) 16:31.18, 4. Sujeewa Jayasena (Sri) 16:31.61, 5. L. Aruna Devi (Ind) 17:31.67, 6. Flordeliza Cachero (Phi) 18:07.59; 10,000m: 1. Sun Yingjie (Chn) 32:37.04, 2. Sujeewa N. Jayasena (Sri) 34:46.99, 3. L. Aruna Devi 37:23.28, 4. Christabel Martes (Phi) 38:11.62, 5. Mercedita Manipol (Phi) 39:03.60, 6. Flordeliza Cachero (Phi) 40:10.14.

100m hurdles: 1. Su Yiping (Chn) 13.09, 2. Feng Yun (Cn) 13.25, 3. Trecia Roberts (Tha) 13.29, 4. Sriyani Kulawansa (Sri) 13.42, 5. Moh Siew Wei (Mas) 13.50, 6. Ayumi Fujita (Jpn) 13.83; 400m hurdles: 1. Huang Xiaoxiao (Chn) 55.66 (NMR), 2. Natalya Torshina (Kaz) 55.88, 3. Winnatho Wassana (Tha) 56.40, 4. Norseela Mohammed Khalid (Mas) 57.28, 5. Mie Osakada (Jpn) 57.61, 6. Yao Yehua (Chn) 57.88.

High jump: 1. Bui Thi Nhung (Vie) 1.88, 2. Miyuki Aoyama (Jpn) 1.84, 3. Noengrotai Chaipech (Tha) 1.84, 4. Bobby Aloysius (Ind) 1.80, 5. Russamee Sumethivit (Tha) 1.80, 6. Maiko Iwakiri (Jpn) 1.75; Pole vault: 1. Wu Sha (Chn) 4.20 (NMR), 2. Ta<147,7,1>kayo Kondo (Jpn) 4.10, 3. Desy Margawati (Ina) 3.90, 4. Gao Shuying (Chn) 3.80, 5. Masumi Ono (Jpn) 3.80, 6. Chang Ko-Hsin (Tpe) 3.60.

Long jump: 1. Anastasiya Juravleva (Uzb) 6.53, 2. Liang Shuyan (Chn) 6.51, 3. Lerma Elmira Gabito (Phi) 6.50, 4. Marestella Torres (Phi) 6.34, 5. Jian Yan (Chn) 6.24, 6. Yelena Kashcheyeva (Kaz) 6.23; Triple jump:1. Huang Qiyuan (Chn) 14.39, 2. Anastasiya Juravleva (Uzb) 14.21, 3. Zhang Hao (Chn) 13.63, 4. Wacharee Rittiwat (Tha) 13.54, 5. Tatyana Bocharova (Kaz) 13.50, 6. Wang Kuo-Hui (Tpe) 13.25.

Shot put: 1. Li Meiju (Chn) 18.45, 2. Li Fengfeng (Chn) 18.07, 3. Chinatsu Mori (Jpn) 17.80, 4. Lee Mi-Young (Kor) 17.60, 5. Juthaporn Krasaeyan (Tha) 17.52, 6. Lee Myung-Sun (Kor) 17.21; Discus: 1. Li Yanfeng (Chn) 61.87, 2. Neelam J. Singh (Ind) 58.64, 3. Xu Shaoyang (Chn) 58.13, 4. Harwant Kaur (Ind) 55.89, 5. Yuka Murofushi (Jpn) 54.08, 6. Tomoko Yamaguchi (Jpn) 48.83; Hammer: 1. Gu Yuan (Chn) 70.78, 2. Liu Yinghui (Chn) 66.66, 3. Masumi Aya (Jpn) 64.04, 4. Huang Chih-Feng (Tpe) 59.31, 5. Hardeep Kaur (Ind) 58.18, 6. Ritu Rani (Ind) 53.30.

Javelin: 1. Ma Ning (Chn) 57.05, 2 . Chang Jung-Yeon (Kor) 53.23, 3. Anne Maheshi De Silva (Sri) 50.18, 4. Takako Miyake (Jpn) 49.75, 5. Nadeeka Lakmali (Sri) 48.94, 6. Geralyn Amandaron (Phi) 47.95; Heptathlon: 1. Irina Naumenko (Kaz) 5845 (14.18, 1.80, 12.57, 24.97, 6.11, 38.18, 2:21.03), 2. Yuki Nakata (Jpn) 5723 (14.12, 1.74, 12.04, 25.30, 6.07, 39.44, 2:21.11), 3. Shen Shengfei (Chn) 5633 (14.27, 1.77, 13.04, 26.14, 6.04, 47.86, 2:41.58), 4. Dong Wangwei (Chn) 5606, 5. Pramila Aiyappa (Ind) 5500, 6. Sayoko Sato (Jpn) 5175.

4x100m relay: Thailand (Nognuch Sanrat , Sangwan Jaksunin, Jukamass Tawonchsroen, Ornut Klomdee) 44.25, 2. Japan (Motoka Arai, Kaori Sakagami, Ayumi Suzuki, Tomoko Ishida) 44.56, 3. China (Qin Wangping, Zhu Juanhong, Chen Lisha, Ni Xiaoli) 44.97, 4. Indonesia 45.95, 5. Philippines 46.33, 6. Vietnam 46.41; 4x400m relay: 1. China (Chen Lisha, Zhang Xiaoyuan, Huang Xiaoxiao, Bu Fangfang) 3:31.30 (NMR), 2. Kazakhstan (Olga Tsurikova, Tatyana Roslanova, Olga Tereshkova, Svetlana Bodritskaya 3:32.82), 3. India (Pinki Parmanik, Manjeet Kaur, S. Geetha, Kalpana Reddy) 3:35.34, 4. Thailand 3:37.23, 5. Japan 3:38.09, 6. SriLanka 3:44.46.

20km walk: 1. Hao Mingming (Chn) 1:31:47.0 (NMR), 2. Zou Ying (Chn) 1:32:07.0, 3. Yuan Yu Fang (Mas) 1:32:25.0, 4. Kaor Nikaido (Jpn) 1:34:05.0, 5. Nandani (Sri) 1:41:08.0, 6. Melinda Manahan (Phi) 1:47:52.0.