LI ZHIXUAN'S goal was not to embarrass her country in her debut on the first day of the Asian Youth Games athletics competition yesterday.

She need not have worried. The 15-year-old runner scored an emphatic come-from-behind win in the 1,500 metres girls' final to swell Chinese pride at the Bishan Stadium.

'It was a very tight race,' said China's Zhixuan in Mandarin, catching her breath after winning in 4min 34.44sec to eclipse her previous personal best of 4:37.

'I got spiked by my competitors' shoes many times and got boxed in too.'

Japan's Misaki Kuroiwa led until the final 300m, when Zhixuan, a native of Hailar district in Inner Mongolia, decided to make her move.

North Korean Ko Yong Sim and India's Pooja Ramesh Varhade followed, but failed to match the Chinese runner's kick. Yong Sim finished second (4:36.80) and Pooja (4:39.04) respectively.

Zhixuan's win was impressive as she had started running only four years ago after her teacher needed students for a school meet. She was picked because of her slim build - she's now 1.68m tall and weighs 45kg.

Despite winning the 1,500m, she was not exactly feeling over the moon.

'I didn't go as fast as I thought I would,' said Zhixuan, who was aiming for a sub-4:30 timing.

Thailand's Pennapa Tantragool, too, was unhappy despite claiming the girls' long jump gold in convincing fashion.

The 16-year-old, also representing her country for the first time at an international meet, soared 5.58m to win, but it was short of her personal best of 5.69m.

Four other teams - Chinese Taipei, India, Yemen and Japan - also helped themselves to the six golds at stake yesterday.

In the high jump girls' final, Chinese Taipei's Wu Meng-chia (1.75m) pipped last year's Asian Junior champion Fung Wai Yee (1.73m).

India's Arjun Arjun won the boys' discus (58.72m), with Japan's Kenta Akiba (51.84m) second. Waleed Saleh Ali Layah of Yemen cruised to the gold in the boys' 1,500m (4:00.91), over four seconds ahead of India's Rahul Kumar (4:05.01).

And Japan's Sho Hibasa (4.81m) dominated the boys' pole vault, easily beating Chinese Taipei's Chi Chien-hao (4.30m).

JEANETTE WANG