Macau,Oct 31: India's Chatholi Hamza emerged victorious in a close finish upsetting defending champion Kamal Ali of Qatar with a new Games record while compatriot Sinimol Paulose maintained her unbeaten run in the 1500m at the continental level this year by winning Asian Indoor Games title here today with a timing of 4:22.56s.

Hamza's stunning accelaration in the last 50m helped him win his first major title at the Asian level with a new games record of 3:50.22s.

Sinimol beat Svetlana Lukasheva of Kazakhstan and Chinese Li Zhenzhu in the final.She had won bronze in the inaugural edition of the Games in 2005 at Pattaya.

In the men's 400m semi-final, India's Bibin Mathew and Vinay Chaudhary failed to make it to the final, they finished fourth in their respective semi-finals.

Results: Women: 1500m Paulose Sinimole(Ind)4:22.56, Lukasheva Svetlana (Kaz)4:24.92,3 Li Zhenzhu (Chn)4:25.96 ,Bui Thi Hien (Vie)4:30.68, Preeja Sreedharan (Ind) 4:31.33 Men: 1500m : Chatholi Hamza (Ind) 3:50.22 (NGR), Al Rasheedi Omar (Kuw)3:50.58, Kamal Abubaker Ali (Qat)3:50.78, Mohammadi Mirzaei Roohollah (Iri)3:52.94, Sun Wenli (Chn)3:56.85.

UNI