Thai sprinter Puripol eyes Asian Games gold

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept 23 - Thailand's Puripol Boonson will look to prove himself as Asia's pre-eminent sprinter when he bids for the 100 metres gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, three years after taking silver at Hangzhou.

Boonson became Southeast Asia's first runner to break the 10-second barrier when he ran 9.94 on home soil in December and enters the Japan meet in decent form after posting 9.99 seconds at a race in the Czech Republic last month.

He made a splash at Hangzhou as a 17-year-old runner-up behind Xie Zhenyi, and the veteran Chinese sprinter may again be Puripol's biggest threat at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium this week.

Boonson is a hero in his home nation after winning the 100-200m double at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games, and an Asian Games gold would send Thai athletics fans into a frenzy.

Home fans will be focused on Olympic javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi and her rivalry with China's 18-year-old sensation Yan Ziyi.

Kitaguchi became the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic field event at the Paris Games but Yan has taken the athletics world by storm this year.

She produced the second-longest throw in history (71.74) on home soil in Xiamen in May on the day after her 18th birthday, one of five Diamond League titles for the year.

Czech Barbora Spotakova's world record of 72.28 may be at Yan's mercy.

In the men’s high jump, Bahrain's former Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim will defend his title and bid for a fourth Asian Games gold, having also won at Hangzhou, Incheon 2014 and Guangzhou in 2010.

Barshim's compatriot Winfred Yavi, Olympic champion in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, will aim for a third consecutive Asian Games gold in the event.

The Kenya-born Yavi will also take on the women’s 5000m and 10,000m, targeting a middle distance hat-trick.

China's Feng Bin, the Olympic runner-up at Paris, heads into the women's discus as favourite after claiming her first Diamond League title in Brussels this month with a throw of 67.46m. REUTERS