| By Jeanette Wang | ||
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Japan's Masaki Nashimoto cruises to the 100m crown at the Bishan Stadium yesterday, ahead of Singapore's Shahrir Anuar who finished third. -- ST PHOTO: LIM SIN THAI |
IT MAY have been just 0.29 second, but in sprinting speak, Masaki Nashimoto's winning margin yesterday was a mile.
With arms outstretched three metres from the tape, the 15-year-old Japanese schoolboy celebrated his coronation as Asia's fastest youth.
The 2,500 spectators at Bishan Stadium roared in approval, even as home favourite Shahrir Anuar of the Singapore Sports School managed only third place.
In stuttering English, Masaki obliged reporters after.
'Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy,' the 1.64m-tall, 54kg Chiba native said, when asked what went through his mind during his 10.82sec effort, which left Thailand's Kittisak Phiraksa (11.11sec) and Shahrir (11.13sec) trailing.
Was it his best time?
'No. Strong wind. Very hot,' added the youngster, who can run the century sprint in 10.65sec.
His likes? Sushi, Ronaldo, Michael Jackson, mathematics and his girlfriend.
His family? The Funabashi High student is the youngest of three kids of a fisherman father and an engineer mother.
Masaki otherwise struggled in yesterday's post-race interview. But for all he could not express, his legs did the talking.
His winning time would have ranked him seventh at the last World Youth Championships in the Czech Republic in 2007. His personal best would have earned him a bronze.
'My dream,' declared Masaki, 'is Olympic gold in 2016.'
While the boys' 100m was straightforward, the girls' was a nail-biter.
South Korean pre-race favourite Lee Sunae came from behind in the closing 20m to win in 12.16sec. Japan's Akane Kimura clocked 12.36sec to claim the silver medal, relegating China's He Jiawen, the early leader, to third spot (12.44sec).
A false start by India's Ranjita Mahanta caused Sunae, 15, to take off cautiously instead of executing her usual powerful beginning.
Athletics rules state that once any athlete has committed one false start, the next person who jumps the gun is thrown out regardless of who was penalised first.
'When I realised I wasn't ahead, I was scared,' said the 1.62m-tall, 48kg Daegu native, whom Korean media have dubbed as the nation's next sprint queen.
'But I refused to give up till the end.'
Tenacity was also on display a few minutes later in the boys' 800m, where Iranian Amir Beyranvand chased down India's Ravi Kumar in the final straight.
Both boys immediately announced themselves as victors, but the photo finish eventually went the way of the former Indian national youth volleyball player by two-hundredths of a second.
'I was a little disappointed because I didn't do my best of 1:54,' said Ravi, 16, who clocked 1min 55.91sec.
His compatriot Namita Kabat then cruised to the girls' 800m title (2:15.55), as golds were also awarded to South Korea's Lee Seonhye (girls' javelin), Kazakhstan's Konstantin Kudryashov (boys' triple jump) and China's Li Jun (boys' shot put) and Ren Wei (boys' high jump).
Tension reached fever pitch in the four-day meet's penultimate event, the boys' 4x200m relay.
Two successive false starts and Hong Kong were out. Another restart was needed for an unknown disruption.
Thai anchor Jirapong Meenapra eventually held off Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Ahmed Abkar to win (1:27.89) by a whisker - but then the Saudis were disqualified for a baton-passing infringement.
There were no such jitters in the girls' race though, which 400m champion Benjamas Yuadthong sealed for a Thai double.
