Year in Review – 20th Asia Masters Athletics Championships
The 20th Asia Masters Athletics Championships was held on September 25 through September 28 in Rugao, China. About 1,600 athletes participated representing 18 countries. Athletes from Australia, USA and New Zealand were welcomed at the championship.
The host country dominated competitions taking in 209 gold, 184 silver and 129 bronze medals. India (37g, 43s, 66b), Sri Lanka (32g, 37s, 47b), Japan (34g, 28s, 16b) and Chinese Taipei (31g, 23s, 24b) round out the top 5 medal winners.
Sawang Janpram (M95 – THA) had two current World #1 performances (Javelin & 100m). Others with World #1 performances were Fu En Teng (W70 – CHN) in 80mH, Hiroo Tanaka (M85 – JPN) in 200m and Pengxue Su (M90 – CHN) in 200mH.
Fourty-six individual Asian Records were set.Hiroo Tanaka (M85 – JPN) set three (100m, 200m & 400m).Two records each were set by Chen Kuo-Heng (M90 – TPE) in 100m & 200m, Hongmiao Gao (W40 – CHN) in 2000mSC & 5000m Walk,Hatam Azadi Hertekeh (M80 – IRI) in 1500m & 800m,Neaw Jantamanee (W85 – THA) in Javelin & Discus,Sawang Janpram (M95 – THA) in 100m & Shot Put,Su Pengxue (M90 – CHN) in Triple Jump & High Jump.
YaqiuRao (W55) edged her China team mate Ai Qin Qiu (W55) 1:17.06 to 1:17.06 in an exciting 400m final.Steven Tay Wee Chung (M45 – SIN) edged Xuming Luo (M45 – CHN) 24.80 to 24.82 in the 200m. Xiguo Bian (M35 – CHN) nippedYuvaraj Chinnasamy (M35 – IND), again by 0.02 seconds in the 110mh.
The M60 400m was contested in four groups with Hisao Suzuki, JPN winning Group 2 by over 6 seconds in 59.08 and Qing Ping Liu winning Group 4 by over 4 seconds in 58.48. Probably would have been another great race and times if they had run in the same group.
Photos by Suresh Kumar. Thank you to all the photographers who support Masters Athletes through your excellent work.