African imports, thin crowds mark Doha athletics

DOHA, Dec 13 (Reuters) With thin crowds, cold weather, African imports dominating the track and only one Asian record, the most lasting impact of the athletics at the 15th Asian Games may be on Qatar's hopes of hosting the Olympics.

China's Olympic champion and world record holder Liu Xiang delivered on his promise to break his Games record in retaining his 110m hurdles title, but the withdrawal of two other top class performers undoubtedly lowered the quality of the event.

Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the 3,000m steeplechase world record holder formerly known as Stephen Cherono, and Japan's Olympic hammer champion Koji Murofushi were both forced to pull out with injuries just before the Games.

Shaheen is one of a score or more of African imports drafted in by the oil-rich states of Qatar and Bahrain to provide them with a presence at the top table of international athletics.

Though the tactic was effective -- more so for Bahrain (five golds) than Qatar (three) -- it left the latter stages of the men's middle and long distance races looking like Kenyan trials and the reception to their victories was lukewarm at best.

Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who won the women's 800m and 1500m for the middle distance double, was an exception in that her defection from Ethiopia to Bahrain was the only way she could compete after claiming political asylum in Switzerland.

Rashid Ramzi, who blazed the trail from Africa to Bahrain and was the first man to do the middle distance double at the world championships, was a disappointment, finishing third in the 1,500m and then pulling out of the 800m and 5,000m.

It has, however, been a long season for the likes of Ramzi, and most of his rivals on the international stage will be well into their winter training with eyes firmly focused on peaking for next year's world championships in Osaka.

Bahrain's women's 200m champion Ruqaya Al Ghasara and a Saudi Arabia team under the tutelage of American John Smith, which won five golds, showed that home-grown talent can also produce the goods for Gulf states.

Al Ghasara said her gold medal also proved there was no hinderance to Muslim women competing at the highest level in the conservative clothing their religion requires in this region.

DOMINANT POWER China's Zhang Wenxiu broke her own Asian record in the hammer to win the first athletics gold of the Games at the Khalifa stadium but there were no further continental marks and nothing close to a world mark.

Zhang's was one of 14 golds for China, which was enough to put them on top of the athletics medals table.

Liu aside, it was the Chinese women who starred once again for the 2008 Olympic hosts and 17-year-old Xue Fei gave a standout performance to win the 5,000m.

Japan's haul of five golds was an improvement on the two they picked up in athletics four years ago but they are a long way from being the dominant power they once were in Asia.

Indians and Sri Lankans were the best supported athletes at the Games but India won only one gold in the women's 4x400m relay.

Sri Lanka had to be satisfied with a silver and a bronze for their darling of the track Susanthika Jayasinghe.

Notwithstanding the cold weather, the low turnout by Qatari nationals for the sports that always form the centrepiece to every Olympics is unlikely to help Qatar's ambitious campaign to host the Games in 2016.

Reuters PDS GC1729