China's star sprinter Su Bingtian takes gold with new record

JAKARTA - China's star sprinter Su Bingtian continued his good form of the current season as he clocked 9.92 seconds to win his first Asiad gold in the men's 100m final here on Sunday.

As the top seed of the most watched race, Su clocked 9.91 seconds in the men's 100-meter race at the Paris leg of the 2018 IAAF Diamond League in June, which tied the Asian record created by the Nigerian-born Qatari Femi Ogunode in 2015.

Tosin Ogunode, the younger brother of Femi Ogunode, edged Japan's Ryota Yamagata to win the silver for Qatar, while the Japanese settled for the bronze.

The younger Ogunode and Yamagata both finished in 10.00s, but the Qatari proved a cut above the Japanese, who topped semifinals, by photo finish difference.

"It's my first Asiad gold medal, so I'm really happy. I had a lot of pressures before the final because I was burning by the desire to win," said Su.

Su, in the same group with Tosin Ogunode, advanced into the final by topping the group in semifinals with 10.16s.

The final, however, did not start well on Su's side. As in heat one day before, Su missed out quick start with a 0.143 reaction time, the fourth fastest among eight runners, while Yamagata led in the first 60 meters, when he was outraced by Su with his extraordinary acceleration.

A determined Su dashed to the finish first with one step ahead of Ogunode and Yamagata.

"I didn't quite feel myself in the heat yesterday, and it's getting better in semifinals. I expected I could 'explode' in the final, but I didn't," Su said at the mixed zone, feeling sorry for not giving a full play of his capability.

At the medal awarding ceremony, Su, wrapped with the red national flag of China, stood at the top of podium when fans were yelling "China, Su Bingtian."

"I'm proud to win honors for my country, but I do hope for more at Tokyo Olympic Games," he said.

Another Chinese Xu Zhouzheng, 22, failed to get into the final by finishing the 10th in semifinals.