Jakarta Diary, third day of athletics: Abderrahman Samba runs 47.66, Neeraj Chopra 88.06 meters

JAKARTA (INA, Aug 27): Qatar’s World leader Abderrahman Samba won the 400m hurdles title on the third day of the Asian Games in a championship record of 47.66, winning by more than one second from India’s Dharun Ayyasamy in 48.96 national record and Japan’s Takatoshi Abe in 49.12. Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya won the women’s 400m hurdles title also in a championship record of 54.48, the third fastest time of her career, ahead of Vietnam’s Thi Lan Quach in 55.30 NR and fellow Bahraini Aminat Jamal in 55.65. There was also a championship record in the 3000m steeplechase with Iran’s Hossein Keyhani improving his lifetime best by more than 10 seconds to win in 8:22.79 (also national record), breaking the championship record by three seconds. Keyhani won by more than six seconds from Qatar’s Yaser Bagharab in 8:28.81. As expected, Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won the women’s 3000m steeplechase title in 9:36.52 from India’s Sudha Singh (9:40.03) and Vietnam’s Thi Oanh Nguyen (9:43.83 NR). 20-year-old Neeraj Chopra produced arguably the best performance of the day, extending his Indian record to 88.06m to win the javelin title from China’s Liu Qizhen (82.22m) and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem (80.75 NR); and China’s Wang Yu cleared 2.30m to win the high jump title from South Korea’s Sang-hyeok Woo (2.28) with Syria’s world bronze medallist Majd Eddin Ghazal and Japan’s Naota Tobe sharing the bronze at 2.24m. Vietnam’s Thi Thu Thao Bui won the long jump title with 6.55m.