AYG Athletics: Rest of the action from the first day of competition

Story by Colin Tung/Red Sports. Pictures by Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports.

Bishan Stadium, Tuesday, June 30, 2009 – Zachary Devaraj finished 6th in the 1500m final in a time of 4 minutes 24.48 seconds while over the same distance in the girls’ race, Ranjitha Raja found the going a little tougher as she placed 9th out of ten finishers with a time of 5:32.72.

The boys’ race had started with a quick first 300m of 48s. The boys were obviously eager to run a fast race as individuals fought for prime positions in the pack, which at one time saw a few tripping over each other’s feet.

The bell lap saw four runners still in contention for the three podium positions, as Layah Waleed Saleh Ali of Yemen kicked away from the others. His move saw the lead pack begin to string out, and took the victory after leading from start to finish with a time of 4:00.91. Kumar Rahul of Indonesia and Beyranvand Amir of the Islamic Republic of Iran collected the silver and bronze medals in times of 4:05.01 and 4:05.32 respectively after a sprint finish.

We caught up with Zachary after the race and he shared a particular incident which saw him almost getting caught in a mangle in the middle of the pack during the early stages of the race.

He said, “It was quite competitive. Some guys almost fell. I had to jump over one of them but that guy still beat me in the end even though he tripped and got slowed down.”

Such was the difference in class that Zachary was at no point in contention at the head of the pack. Having said that, he exercised maturity in holding himself back in the pack and slowly working his way up the field of runners as the race closed out.

From as far back as 9th position, he reeled in a few athletes who wilted from the initial enthusiastic pace, to finish in an eventual 6th place. His time of 4:24.48 though was off his personal best of 4:18 set a week ago in Kuala Lumpur at the Western Australian Little Athletics Association (WALAA) track and field meet.

Zachary shared, “I’m quite disappointed but I tried my best. They are simply too good.”

“In Singapore, competitors would usually start fast then relax. But here, they started fast and did not let off at all. So that was one major difference for me.”

As Zachary was still catching his breath, his coach Loh Chan Pew soon came up by his side to check his condition, and we asked about his thoughts on his athlete’s race.

Coach Loh said: “I had not wanted him to run the 1500m. Since he was running, I had wanted him to relax and not exert too much because he’s too tired after the WALAA meet in KL. The focus is tomorrow’s 800m where our aim is to go sub-2:00 min.”

In the girls’ 1500m race, Li Zhixuan of the People’s Republic of China finished strongly to win the gold medal in a time of 4:34.44, while Ko Yong Sim of the People’s Republic of Korea and Ramesh Varhade Pooja of India picked up the silver and bronze medals in times of 4:36.80 and 4:39.04 respectively.

Singapore’s Ranjitha Raja had tried to keep with the main pack of runners early in the race but found the pace simply too demanding as she got consigned to the tail of the field of runners.

Unwilling to be crushed, she summoned a spirited finish for 9th place.

That was about all the action in the middle-distance events on the first day, while the sprints saw Shahrir Mohd Anuar and Liang Wei competing in round one of the 100m and Jared Lim and Clara Poon running the 400m in the same stage.

In the 100m, Shahrir posted the second fastest time of the eight qualifiers for the final on Friday. His time of 11.07s saw him emerge first from his heat which saw three others also qualify for the final as well.

Running in the third and last heat, Shahrir led from start to finish with second-placed Taftian Hussan earning qualification with a time of 11.16s as part of the top two in each heat. Abd Ali Hasanain of Iraq and Bui Van Anh of Vietnam, with times of 11.22s and 11.26s respectively, are also through to the final for being the two best performers outside of the top two in any heat.

The only person to better Shahrir’s time was Japanese Nashimoto Masaki, who was the only athlete under 11s with a time of 10.89s. He staked a strong claim for the title of Asia’s fastest boy with a solid performance that saw him take his heat comfortably.

We caught up with Shahrir after his race and he let on about how he felt to have qualified for the final with the second fastest time.

Shahrir said, “My aim going into the race was to qualify for the final. I’m quite happy I did that so now I’m looking to finish on the podium on Friday. It won’t matter what colour the medal is as anyway, it will put Singapore on the Asian map and raise the profile of Singapore athletics.”

When pressed further about his chances in the final, Shahrir went on to say, “I am feeling good about my races. A sub-11s will come in the final.”

We sure do hope he achieves that and more come Friday!

On the other hand, it was the end of the road at the Asian Youth Games for Liang Wei as she ran a 12.91s to finish 4th in the first of three heats. Kimura Akane of Japan and Liao Ching-Hsien of Chinese Taipei clinched the top two spots in the heat that secured them a passage into the final with times of 12.14s and 12.42s respectively.

The fastest time in the three heats was clocked by Lee Sunae of the Republic of Korea who ran 12.00s in heat two.

In the 400m, Jared Lim ran 50.39s, a personal best, to place third in heat two, and qualified for the final as one of two best performers outside of the top-two in any heat.

Jared’s heat was the quickest with the top qualifier Fu Pei-Yu of Chinese Taipei in 49.30s and with four qualifiers for the final from this heat.

Jared looked like a boy who has got his confidence back after his selection for the 400m AYG squad had earlier been questioned and his coach, Remy Gan, was at hand to comment.

Mr Remy Gan said: “It was beautiful, he finally did a sub-51s! He showed here that he can rise to the occasion. He really needed that self-belief and this performance has given him some of that.”

Much needed self-belief when you hear Jared, not much of a slight figure himself, say in reference to his competitors: “I didn’t believe some of them were 16 at first because they are really huge! It was an eye-opener for us.”

In the girls’ 400m, Singapore’s Clara Poon did not make the cut for the final after clocking 63.80s in the second of two heats. She was sixth in the heat in which the top-three would qualify automatically and the two best performers outside the top-three from either heat would join them.

The top qualifier was Yuadthong Benjamas of Thailand from heat one who clocked 58.34s.

Running from lane 1, she was left trailing the rest of the field for almost the whole race and Clara shared with us the experience after she took some time recovering her breath from her exertions.

“I am quite happy. My aim was just to give it my best and I had little expectations because I sustained an ankle fracture more than a month ago. I just recovered and so my fitness isn’t at its peak,” Clara said.

She also revealed that during the time she was injured, she only did swimming and treadmill running.

Clara has withdrawn from the 800m race she had been slated to run initially. Nevertheless, her effort in the 400m in spite of her lack of conditioning since her recovery from injury is testimony of the lion-heart Singaporeans possess!