Inoue wins by a whisker

Bahrain's Elhassan Elabbassi accused Hiroto Inoue of shunting during a dramatic sprint finish, which the Japanese runner won by a whisker, as the Asian Games athletics competition opened in chaotic fashion on Saturday. But race officials rejected complaints from both athletes and allowed Inoue's win, in a time of two hours, 17 minutes and 22 seconds, to stand. It followed an unusual opening to the race in tropical Jakarta, as organisers ordered athletes to run to the start line, apparently because they were late. “We were all walking down and they were like 'run, run for the start',” said Tony Payne of Thailand. “It was pretty hectic. They made us run an extra warm-up.” Inoue's winning time was the slowest at an Asian Games since 1982 in New Delhi, as the runners struggled with Jakarta's baking heat and stifling humidity despite a 06:00 start. Duo Bujie, a Chinese athlete from Tibet who took to marathon running after a childhood spent herding yaks, finished 26 seconds further back to take bronze. Later, China's Su Bingtian, who shares Asia's 100m record, sailed into the semifinals ahead of an expected attempt at a new mark on Sunday. Su's 10.27seconds was enough to win his heat but was only the seventh-fastest time overall, and way off the 9.91 he clocked in June to equal Femi Ogunode's Asian mark. “There are many races later, so for me this one does not need to be the best,” said Su. “For me, I just need to have my normal performance, I should not think too much,” he added. China continued its dominance of the women's hammer, claiming both gold and silver for the fifth consecutive Asian Games, a record stretching back to the sport's introduction. Daria Maslova won Kyrgyzstan's first-ever track medal at the regional Olympics, storming home in the women's 10 000m with a time of 32:07.23. Most seats remained empty in the morning session, but by the evening thousands of boisterous Indonesians had packed into one end of the stadium. They were able to witness an unusual sight, when a stray cat trotted along the track and onto the infield during the women's 100m hurdles heats. But the crowd's loudest cheer of the night was for home-grown teenage sprinter Lalu Zohri's victory in his 100m heat. The rags-to-riches story of world junior 100m champion, Lalu, who hails from earthquake-struck northern Lombok, and grew up in a bamboo shack, has won hearts across Indonesia. In the final medal event of the day, Tajinderpal Singh Toor claimed India's ninth-ever gold in the men's shot put, but their first since 2002. -NAMPA/AFP

Inoue wins by a whisker

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-23

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Inoue wins by a whisker

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-23

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