WITH several world champions, world record holders and Asian champions in the fray, the Hangzhou Asian Games track and field event promises to be a cracker.
World high jump champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Mutaz Barshim of Qatar will be there, as will javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra from India, the gold medal winner of recent World Championships.
Neeraj’s perennial opponent – Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem – will also be there.
However, Chinese superstar Su Bingtian, winner of the 2018 Asian Games 100m gold medal, is out injured. Bingtian was the first man of non-African descent to run the 100m sub-9.90s and sub-9.85s, and the first ever Asian-born sprinter to break the 10-second barrier.
With him out, Qatar’s Femi Ogunode will be the favourite. He has won four Asian Games gold medals – winning both the 100m and 200m in Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014.
Japan’s Yuki Koike, China’s Chen Guanfeng and Xie Zhenye and even Malaysia’s Mohd Azeem Fahmi stand a chance of winning medals in the 100m.
“Japan have not sent their two best sprinters Abdel Karim Sani Brown and Ryuichiro Sakai, also Yupun (Abeykoon) from Sri Lanka is also missing but the rest, they are the fastest in Asia,” said Azeem.
“This is a competition that I have dreamt of, especially in Asia. Not to forget, the sprinters from South-East Asia like Puripol Boonson and Lalu (Mohd Zohri). This is a platform where I can not only prove that I am one of the best in Asia, but also the best in South-East Asia.”
In the women’s sprint event, Singaporean Shanti Pereira could do a sprint double, as she leads all Asian women over the 100m this year with an 11.20s national record, a mark she has broken six times in 2023 alone.
A total of 48 gold medals will be at stake for the next seven days and, as in every Asian Games since 1986, China are the favourites to top the overall standings.
