INCHEON, South Korea, September 4 (Xinhua) -- Huang Xiaoxiao stormed to victory in the women's 400 meters hurdles to earn China their 15th gold medal in the final day's competition of the 16th Asian championships at the Munhak Stadium here on Sunday.
China, who won 19 gold in the last championships two years ago, still topped the medal standings with 15 golds, seven silvers and 10 bronzes.
Arch-rival Japan finished third with 5-6-3, surprisingly beaten by Qatar, whose adopted middle and long distance runners, mostly from Kenya, helped them finish second with 6-3-3.
But the final day saw anything but a success from the Chinese athletes, who captured only one gold, one silver and five bronzes.
Huang, who finished fifth in the Helsinki world championships, proved she was in a class of her own in Asia, winning by a margin of 0.76 seconds.
The 22-year-old led all the way and clocked 55.63 seconds for the gold, beating the championship record of 55.66 seconds set by herself when winning in the Manila Asian championships two years ago.
Malaysia's Noraseela Moha Khalid finished second in 56.39 seconds and Japan's Makiko Yoshida won the bronze in 56.85.
"My coach told me to run between 55 and 56 seconds, but I know that it's enough to win the gold by running 56 seconds," Huang said.
Huang failed to retain her women's 4X400m relay gold with teammates, finishing a disappointing fourth in a time of three minutes 37.11 seconds, behind India (3:30.93) and Kazakhstan (3:32. 61).
India also the winner in the women's long jump. Anju Bobby George, fifth placer in Helsinki with 6.65m, won the title in 6.65, beating Marestella Torres of the Philippines (6.63) and Japan's Kumiko Ikeda (6.52).
Qatar and Saudi Arabia each won three gold medals in the day.
Saeed Jajed Sultan and Abudulrahman Suleman got a 1-2 finish for Qatar in the men's 800m, in a time of 1:44.27 and 1:44.73 respectively. Iran's Sjad Moradi finished third in 1:44.74. All three runners broke the championship record of 1:46.20 set by Qatar's Abdou Adam.
Qatar also captured the first two places in the men's 5,000m. James Kwalia Kurui won the gold in 14:08.56 and Daham Jajm Bashair was second in 14:15.92. Chinese Taipei's Wu Wen-Chien took the third in 14:32.43.
The country's third gold was won by men's shot putter Khaledh Al-Suwaidi with a throw of 19.45 meters. India's Navpreet Singh finished second in 19.40 and China's Zhang Qi third in 19.02.
Saudi Arabia's Hamed Al Bishi was fastest in the men's 200m in 20.66 seconds. Japan's Tatsuro Yoshino (20.68) and China's Yang Yaozu (20.85) were second and third respectively.
Hadi Somayli won Saudi Arabia's second gold of the day from the men's 400m hurdles in 49.16 seconds. Kazakhstan's Yevgeniy Meleshenko took the silver in 49.18 and China's Zhang Shibao won the bronze in 49.65.
The men's 4X400m relay also went to the Saudi Arabians. Their foursome prevailed in 3:03.19. Japan was second in 3:03.51 and Sri Lanka was third in 3:04.12.
Japan and Sri Lanka both won two gold medals each.
The Japanese men were triumphant in the men's 4X100m relay, ahead of Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
Miho Sugimori took Japan's another gold in the women's 800m in 2: 01.84.
Sri Lanka's golds came from men's high jumper Pathira Wijesekara (2.27m) and Damayanthi Siriwardana in the women's 200m (23.21).
Hosts South Korea finally tasted the gold medal as Park Ho Hyun took the women's javelin throw in 55.58m. Her compatriot Lee Young Sun won the silver in 55.29 and Sri Lanka' s Anne Kiaheshi Kovilage was third in 54.86.
The day's other two gold medals were won by Thailand in the women's 4X100m relay and Uzbekhistan in the men's decathlon with a total of 7,744 points.
The next Asian championships will be held in Beruit, Lebanon, in 2007.
