China's Liu sets new Asian Championships record

Chinese star hurdler Liu Xiang set a new Asian Athletics Championships record in the 110-metre hurdles on Sunday in Kobe to successfully defend his title with something to spare. The former world record holder, who turns 28 on Wednesday, clocked a new championship best time of 13.22 seconds to beat his compatriot Shi Dongpeng, who came home in 13.56, and Park Taek-Yong of South Korea in 13.66. It was a repeat performance of the Asian Games last year, when the three finished in the same places. It was the injury-prone Liu's fourth victory out of four Asian championships, following triumphs in 2002, 2005 and 2009. In the women's 200m, Japan's Chisato Fukushima added another continental title to her Asian Games gold medal when she finished top in 23.49 seconds. Gretta Taslakian of Lebanon was second in 24.01 and Saori Imai of Japan third in 24.06. "I'm happy to win the title, but this is not good enough for the world championships," admitted Fukushima, who became only the fourth sprinter to win both the Asian Games and the Asian Championships. "I made several mistakes today. I think I can run faster. I'm going to improve further so that I can compete against top runners in the world in the remaining one month," she added. The men's 200m title went to Femi Seun Ogunode of Qatar, also the Asian Games champion, who clocked 20.41 seconds to beat Japan's Hitoshi Saito in 20.75 and Omar Juma Bilal Alsalfa of the United Arab Emirates in 20.97.