China

Shaheen,Liu look for golden memories

(AFP)
Updated: 2006-11-29 08:31

DOHA - Saif Saaeed Shaheen and Liu Xiang add star power to the Asian Games track and field event in Doha, with two of the world's best athletes all but assured of golden memories.

Saif Saaeed Shaheen

Another cast-iron certainty, bar injury, is Japanese hammer thrower Koji Murofushi, the Olympic champion who has not been defeated this season.

But which country walks away with most medals is anyone's guess.

China proved the country to beat in Busan four years ago, followed by a Saudi Arabian team spurred on by fabled US coach John Smith, and India, which forfeited medals due to a doping scandal involving runner Sunita Rani.

Liu Xiang

Once again the Saudis have been training with Smith, whose stable includes the likes of sprinters Maurice Greene and Leonard Scott, and 110m hurdler Allen Johnson, and they could again spring a surprise.

Sporting powerhouse Japan could only manage two gold in Busan, and they will be aiming to claw back some credibility in the 50,000-seat Kalifa Stadium, with pole vaulter Daichi Sawano and long jumper Kumiko Ikeda their best hopes.

Liu is a safe bet to be on the podium for China but they also have new bevy of runners and jumpers who made a splash at the recent World Junior Athletics Champuinships as fresh talent is blooded ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

But they are without 2004 Olympic women's 10,000m champion Xing Huina who has failed to recover from a knee injury.

Alongside Liu, Shaheen, a former Kenyan, is perhaps the only other true world class athlete taking part, and will have home crowds to drive him to glory.

He controversially switched to Qatar for a reported 300,000 pounds in 2002 shortly after delivering gold for Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in the 3000 metres steeplechase under his former name Stephen Cherono.

He was following in the footsteps of others to transfer allegiance either from his country or from other African nations.

Bahrain's Moroccan-born double 2005 world champion Rashid Ramzi is another high profile defector - but he has attracted the most opprobrium for his switch.

Ramzi will also be in Doha, and has everything to prove after dropping off the international radar in recent months.

He will have his work cut out here as there are other expatriates who could cause him problems, notably teammate Belal Mansoor Ali, formerly the Kenyan John Yego.

In the 800m lurks another of Ramzi's teammates in the shape of Kamel Youssef Saad, originally the Kenyan Gregory Konchellah - son of Billy, the former 800m runner who won two consecutive world titles in Rome in 1987 and Tokyo in 1991. Shaheen has certainly repaid the Qataris handsomely with his performances and unlike Ramzi - who came out of nowhere to take 800m and 1500m gold in Helsinki last year - has generally maintained his dominance this term.

Two world outdoor championship crowns and the world record are testament to his top billing and the Olympic title too would surely have fallen his way in 2004 had he been permitted by the Kenyans to take part.

"It will maybe not be the same level as a world gold but given the circumstances of my change of allegiance it would mean just as much to win the Asian title in Qatar," said Shaheen.

For Liu, the 110m hurdles world record holder, it is a case of another step on the way to defending his Olympic title at home in China in 2008.

The hurdles king was in devastating form earlier in the European season which climaxed with his destruction of the world record when he clocked 12.88 seconds in Lausanne last July.

Unlike Shaheen, Liu has already taken the Asian title having eased to victory in 2002 in South Korea, clocking a Games record of 13.27, bettering compatriot Li Tong's 1994 mark of 13.30.

Liu insists that the Asian Games is not an after thought for him and rates high on his priorities.

"The Asian Games is of great importance," said Liu, who has been training in South China's Guangzhou, the host city of the 2010 Asian Games. "My goal is simple - winning the gold." And if Liu thought he could just turn up and coast to a second title then his coach has other ideas for him.

"It's the end of the season but we still have to work hard," said Sun Haiping. "If I have to, I will make Liu train until his head spins."