December 12, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 20, 1427

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DOHA, Dec 11: Japan's Shingo Suetsugu underlined his status as Asia's fastest man over 200 metres by dashing to the Asian Games gold on a chilly Monday evening here at the Khalifa Stadium.

The 26-year-old, who holds the Asian record of 20.03, got off to a flier and his victory never looked in doubt as he held his form over the last 100m to cross the line in 20.60 seconds.

China’s Yang Yaozu was second in 20.71, while Suetsugu’s compatriot Shinji Takahira just edged out Saudi Hamed Al Bishi for the bronze in 20.81.

Suetsugu was the first Asian to win a sprint medal at the World Championships or Olympics when he got a 200m bronze at the 2003 Worlds in Paris.

In the women’s 200m contest, Bahrain's Ruqaya Al Ghasara burst down the home straight to claim the title in 23.19, adding gold to the bronze she won in the 100m.

Uzbekistan's Guzel Khubbieva claimed silver in 23.30 with Sri Lanka's Susanthika Jayasinghe clocking 23.42 for bronze as the top three from the 100m also dominated the longer sprint.

In the men's 800m, Kenyan-born Yusuf Saad Kamel taking gold for Bahrain in 1:45.74. Mohammad Al Azemi won silver for Kuwait, while bronze went to Iran's Ehsan Mohajershojaei.

Asian champion Xie Limei maintained China's dominance in the women's triple jump when she leapt 14.37m in her fourth attempt to take the lead from Uzbekistan's Anastasiya Juravleva.

Juravleva was unable to improve on her mark of 14.26 so took silver ahead of another Chinese, Li Qian, who won bronze with a best jump of 13.78.

In the meantime, Saudi Arabia's Sultan Abdulmajeed Al Hebshi got the men's shot put title here at the Asian Games on Monday.

The 21-year-old threw an Asian Games record of 20.42 metres to beat Khaled Habash Al Suwaidi of Qatar while Chang Ming Huang of Taiwan took the bronze.

China's Liu Haitao won the Asian Games 1000m kayak gold medal here Monday in a time of 4:25.136. Uzbekistan's Aleksey Babadjanov took the silver and Moon Chul Wook of South Korea won the bronze.

Park Sung Hyun of South Korea claimed the Asian Games women's archery crown here on Monday, beating her compatriot Yun Ok Hee in the gold medal match. Zhao Ling of China took the bronze.

Early riser Liu Xiang ran a relaxed 13.70 seconds in his 110-meter hurdles heat, easily securing a shot at defending his title in the event's marquee race.

The world record holder and Olympic champion said he awoke at 5:40am. (0240 GMT) for the 9:20 am (0620 GMT) start of his heat.

Still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he was slow out of the blocks, although the third-best time, nearly a second off his world record time, easily places him in Tuesday's final.

With no serious competition at the games, Liu is aiming to break his Asian record of 13.30 set four years ago at the last Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.

Finishing first in qualifying was Japan's Masato Naito with a time of 13.70, followed by Liu's teammate Shi Dongpeng, 13.71.

Uzbekistan's Vadim Menkov captured the 1000m canoe gold in 4:57.815. Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Bezhnar took the silver and Japan's Taito Ambo won the bronze.

China clinched the Asian Games 1000m C2 canoe gold medal yesterday in a time of 4:22.003. Uzbekistan came second and Japan came third.

While China also grabbed the Asian Games 1000m K2 kayaking gold medal in 3:56.423. Iran came second and Kazakhstan came third.

Thai javelin thrower Buoban Pamang's gold medal was a dream come true — literally.

The twice South-East Asian Games champion threw a personal best 61.21m to take victory.

In the meantime, China's Xue Fei sealed the women's 5000 metres title.

The 17-year-old timed 15minutes 40.12 seconds to beat home Japan's Kayo Sugihara while Jaisha Orchatteri of India took the bronze.

China's Asian champion Aimin Song won the women's discus title.

The 28-year-old, silver medallist in 2002 threw a best of 63.52 metres to beat compatriot Ma Xuejun while India's 2002 bronze medallist Krishna Punia had to settle for the same medal again.

On Sunday, a pair of former Kenyan runners provided a photo-finish end to the 1,500 metres for their adopted counties.

Daham Najm Bashair, formerly known as David Nyaga, moved up on the final turn, then duelled with Belall Mansoor Belal of Bahrain through the final 30 metres.

At the finish line, Bashair, running for host Qatar, lunged ahead to take gold in three minutes, 38.06 seconds.

Earlier at the track, Hamdan Awdah al Bishi moved from silver into gold territory, finally. After taking home silver medals from the last two Asian Games, al Bishi won the 400 metres on Sunday to give Saudi Arabia its second gold of the games in track, adding to Yahya Hassan Habeeb's win in the 100.

To do it, al Bishi had to upset favourite Brandon Simpson of Bahrain.

Olga Tereshkova gave Kazakhstan gold in the women's 400 metres, finishing in 51.86, with Manjeet Kaur of India (52.17) taking silver and Asami Tanno of Japan (53.04) the bronze.

Huang Xiaosiao gave China gold in the women's 400-metre hurdles, while Kenji Narisako won the men's version of the same race. Liu Jing of China won the women's 100-meter hurdles ahead of fellow Chinese Feng Yun.

In field events, Daichi Sawano won the men's pole vault at 5.60 meters and Iran's Ehsan Hadadi took the men's discus gold with a throw of 63.79 metres.

In the women's long jump, Japan's Kumiko Ikeda won gold with a leap of 6.38 metres to upset India's Anju Bobby George, the bronze medallist at the 2003 World Championships, by two centimetres.

Kenyan-born Mubarak Hassan Shami won the men's marathon for host Qatar, finishing almost three minutes ahead of his nearest rival.

Shami finished the 42.2-kilometre seaside Corniche street circuit in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 44 seconds. Bahrain's Khalid Kamal Yaseen narrowly beat Satoshi Osaki of Japan in a photo finish after both had 2:15:36.—Agencies