Athletics / Asian Championships: Robani clocks season's best to make final

2009/11/12

ROBANI Hassan, inspired by running alongside former world and Olympic champion Liu Xiang, clocked his season's best to reach the 110m hurdles final at the Asian Championships in Guangzhou, China yesterday. The 2005 Sea Games gold medallist timed 14.01 seconds to qualify comfortably for the final after finishing third in Heat 1.

Robani, who has never won a medal at Asian level, will be seeking to put that right when he takes to the starting line in the final today.

There were three Malaysians in the night finals with Tan Song Hwa heaving the hammer to a distance of 54.19m, some way off her national record of 55.67, to finish last of seven competitors.

K. Ganthimanthi finished ninth in the women's 1,500m final in 4:41.35 but M. Vadivellan finished 10 seconds off his 1,500m national record when he timed a poor 3:55.32 for 10th place in the men's final.

In the morning, Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaluddin clocked 12.00s to finish sixth in her 100m semi-final while Noor Imran Hadi was also placed sixth in his 100m semi-final in a time of 10.76, with neither advancing to the final.

Besides Robani, Roslinda Samsu will defend her pole vault title against seven competitors in today's finals while Melinder Kaur runs in the women's 3,000m steeplechase final.

Teoh Boon Lim and Lo Choon Sieng compete in the men's 20km walk in the morning.

RESULTS -- Men's 100m: 1 Zhang Peimeng (Chn) 10.28s, 2 Naoki Tsukahara (Jpn) 10.32, 3 Guo Fan (Chn) 10.37.

400m: 1 Liu Xiaosheng (Chn) 46.55s, 2 Yuzo Kanemaru (Jpn) 46.60, 3 Ismail Al-Sibyani (Ksa) 46.84.

1,500m: 1 Othman Shaween (Ksa) 3:46.08s, 2 Chaminda Wijekon (Sri) 3:47.01, 3 Hamza Chatholi (Ind) 3:48.44... 9 M. Vadivellan (Mas) 3:55.32.

Pole vault: 1 Liu Feiliang (Chn) 5.60m, 2 Yang Quan (Chn) 5.45, 3 Daichi Sawano (Jpn) 5.45.

Shot put: 1 Om Prakash Singh Karhana (Ind) 19.87m, 2 Chang Ming-Huang (Tai) 19.34, 3 Zhang Jun (Chn) 19.15.

Women's 100m: 1 Chisato Fukushima (Jpn) 11.27s, 2 Vu Thi Huong (Vie) 11.50, 3 Jyothi Hiriyur Manjunath (Ind) 11.60.

400m: 1 Asami Tanno (Jpn) 53.32s, 2 Chen Lin (Chn) 53.55, 3 Manjeet Kaur (Ind) 53.66.

1,500m: 1 Zhou Hai Yan (Chn) 4:32.74s, 2 Liu Fang (Chn) 4:33.35, 3 Truong Thanh Hang (Vie) 4:33.46... 9 K. Ganthimanthi (Mas) 4:41.35.

100m hurdles: 1 Sun Ya Wei (Chn) 13.19s, 2 Asuka Terada (Jpn) 13.20, 3 Dedeh Erawati (Ina) 13.32.

Triple jump: 1 Olga Rypakova (Kaz) 14.53m, 2 Xu Ting Ting (Chn) 14.11, 3 Irina Litvinenko (Kaz) 13.99.

Hammer: 1 Zhang Wen Xiu (Chn) 72.07m, 2 Hao Shu Ai (Chn) 65.87, 3 Yuka Murofushi (Jpn) 61.99... 7 Tan Song Hwa (Mas) 54.19.