Zheng smashes 1,500m T11 world record at Asian Para Games

Jin Zheng capped a memorable day for China on the opening day of track and field competition at the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, South Korea, on Sunday (19 October) by smashing the 1,500m T11 world record.

The 23-year-old ran 4:44.06 to beat the previous record of Italy's Annalisa Minetti (4:48.88) set at London 2012, to win gold, one of nine titles won by Chinese para-athletics on the first day of competition at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium.

On the track there were also gold medals for China's women courtesy of Paralympic champion Junfei Chen (28.29) in the 200m T35/37/38, Yanping Wang (26.55) in the 200m T47, Lisha Huang (30.07) in the 200m T53 and Hongjiao Dong (29.64) in the 200m T54. All four athletes set Games records on their way to gold.

Further Games records were set by gold medallists Makiko Toyoshima (5:01.30) of Japan in the women's 1,500m T20 and Uzbekistan's Fakhriddin Khamraev (1:57.19) in the men's 800m T13.

Hosts Korea won their first para-athletics gold of the Games through Min-Jae Jeon (31.59) in the women's 200m T36.

In the field there was one Asian and seven Games records on the first day of competition.

Malaysia's Siti Noor Radiah set a new Asian record on her way to gold in the women's long jump T20, and her teammate Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli (15.31m) set a new Games record in the men's shot put F20.

China's world record holder Na Mi (31.57m) broke her own Games record by 1.05m to take gold in the women's discus F36/37/38 and another Chinese world record holder Liangmin Zhang (37.41m) did the same in the women's discus F11/12.

Two Iranian men also set new Games records on their way to gold; Seyed Erfan Hosseini Liravi (59.97m) in the javelin F12/F13 and Alireza Mokhtari Hemami (21.86m) in the discus F51/52/53.

Iraq's Wildan Nazar Hasan Nukhailawi (11.64m) added 1.05m to the Games record to top the podium in the men's shot put F41.

Elsewhere, there were gold medals for China's Ming Liu (24.59m) in the women's discus F57, China's Yanzhang Wang (34.47m) in the men's javelin F33/34, Qatar's Sara Hamdi HA Masoud (4.04m) in the women's shot put F32/33, Syria's Mohamed Mohamed in the men's shot put F57 (12.44m) and Thailand's Surang Khamsuk (31.34m), who threw a personal best in the women's javelin F46.

The 2014 Asian Para Games opened on Saturday 18 October and will run through to Friday 24 October. Athletes from 41 countries will compete in 23 sports.

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