Africans runaway winners

If the overnight rain had ironed out the worry lines on faces of athletes concerned about a hot and humid morning, the final result 8212; t...

If the overnight rain had ironed out the worry lines on faces of athletes concerned about a hot and humid morning, the final result 8212; the first seven men finishing in sub-63 minutes and the women8217;s champion hitting a Chinese national record 8212; was the icing on the cake. And in the middle of all that was the story of the day: Of a brilliant and touching Kenyan team-game that ensured the men8217;s individual and team golds went home with them.

The 13th IAAF World Half Marathon 8212; the biggest international event New Delhi had the honour of hosting since the 1982 Asian Games 8212; went off without any major glitches.

The basic report: Kenyan Paul Kirui won the men8217;s title with last edition runner-up Fabian Joseph of Tanzania coming second again and Kenyan-born Qatari Abdullah Ahmad Hassan formerly Robert Chipkurui winning bronze. Chinese Sun Yingjie, with consummate ease, won the women8217;s gold ahead of Lydia Cheromei of Kenya and Constantina Tomescu of Romania. The only surprise element, perhaps, was that Ireland8217;s Sonia O8217;Sullivan could not live up to the pre-event hype, finishing fourth.

Now for the Kenyan trick: Kirui and his teammates, particularly John Cheruiyot Korir, had a well-prepared script and played it to perfection on Sunday. Kirui held back initially before hitting the front in the final five kilometres. 8216;8216;We spoke as we ran and decided I was the best placed to move ahead when John8217;s legs were giving way,8217;8217; said Kirui attributing his victory to pure team tactics.

He also mentioned how Kenya was robbed of a possible 1-2 in the absence of last year8217;s winner Martin Lel through injury. And then, there was the plan to ensure Hassan didn8217;t get through: 8216;8216;He8217;s a Kenyan who is now in Qatar. We weren8217;t worried about the Tanzanian. We were worried about him. We wanted to make sure he didn8217;t win,8217;8217; Kirui said.

China8217;s Sun Yingjie, meanwhile, admitted the presence of O8217;Sullivan was worrying and she 8216;8216;didn8217;t come expecting to win.8217;8217; Sonia, for her part, said a fourth-place finish was 8216;8216;a bonus8217;8217; as she was looking for a top-10 finish. Along the way, Yingjie set a Chinese national record of 1.08.40 minutes.

The Kenyan domination extended to the men8217;s team competition also, with the Kirui-Korir-Wilson Kiprotich Kebenei coming first, followed by Ethiopia and Uganda. Among the women, it was Ethiopia Eyerusalem Kuma-Bezunesh Bekele-Teyba Erkesso first, Romania second and Russia third. As for the Indians, R B Subba 59 finished first while Mukesh 65 and Ajit Singh 66 came in that order in the men8217;s section while among the women, Geeta Rani 45, Sarita Marwade 46 and Purshot Laima Devi 47 finished 1-2-3 respectively.

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Of the 94 men participants, 84 finished while seven did not and three did not start. Among the women, 58 finished and three pulled out midway.