Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya, who was stripped of the championship in 2018 due to doping, won gold in the 400m hurdles on Tuesday, while Olympic champion Liu Shiyang stumbled in the javelin.
Ten titles were determined on a busy night in Hangzhou, with six nations claiming victory, including Chinese Olympic silver medalist Zhu Yaming in the men’s triple jump.
In the women’s high jump, veteran Svetlana Radzivil was dethroned by Uzbek compatriot Safina Sadullayeva, who denied her a fourth straight victory.
Adekoya returned to the spotlight by crossing first in a Games-record 54.45sec to build on her impressive performance at the World Championships in Budapest, where she finished fourth.
China’s Mo Jiadie (55.01) took silver and India’s Vithya Ramraj (55.68) bronze.
The 30-year-old Adekoya won at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon after switching allegiance from Nigeria, and again came first at Jakarta four years later.
But she was stripped of her 2018 hurdles and mixed 4x400m relay golds after testing positive for the prohibited steroid stanozolol. She was banned for four years.
A former world indoor champion, she claimed at the time her food was spiked.
“I just wanted to fight and get the gold medal, and fight for a new record,” she said on Tuesday.
“Last Asian Games I broke it (the record), but what happened, happened,” she added, alluding to her ban.
“I just focus on my mental health and keep it very strong. I believe in myself and work very hard.”
Adekoya only recently returned to action and pipped fellow Nigerian-born Bahraini Salwa Eid Naser — who is also on the comeback from a doping ban — to claim the 400m title on Saturday.
Really special
Qatar’s defending champion and Asian record holder Abderrahman Alsaleck won the men’s 400m hurdles in 48.04, ahead of teammate Bassem Hemeida and China’s Xie Zhiyu.
“That makes it really special,” he said of Hemeida taking silver. “Now we have two medals in 400m hurdles, that is really difficult at a world level.”
China’s javelin star Liu was the hot favourite to defend her title, particularly in the absence of Japanese world champion Haruka Kitaguchi.
Liu threw 66.34m to win Tokyo Olympic gold, but she could only manage 57.62m and retired before her final throw.
It allowed India’s Annu Rani to take the title with a 62.92 effort, ahead of Sri Lanka’s Dilhani Lekamge and China’s Lyu Huihui. Liu came fifth.
In other action, Tokyo Olympic runner-up Zhu soared to 17.13m in claiming the triple jump honours, making up for narrowly missing the medals in Budapest.
Teammate Fang Yaoqing won silver and India’s Praveen Chithravel bronze.
“To win Asian Games gold is a milestone for me,” said Zhu. “I hope to work with my teammates and do greater things at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
Radzivil, competing in her fifth Asian Games, was unable to replicate her high jump exploits from the previous three Asiads, finishing second to Sadullayeva, who jumped 1.86m.
Parul Chaudhary won the women’s 5,000m in 15:14.75, catching Japan’s fast-fading Ririka Hironaka in the final 10 meters to add to her silver in the 3,000m steeplechase on Monday behind world champion Winfred Yavi.
Essa AliKzwani of Saudi Arabia won the men’s 800m title in 1:48.05, while Sun Qihao of China won the decathlon.
China finished the night on a high note, winning both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays in front of raucous home fans.
