Incheon: The UAE’s golden girl Alia Saeed Mohammad could not contain her joy at having won her first-ever Asian Games gold medal, with a personal best timing in the gruelling women’s 10,000 metres on the opening day of the track and field events of the Incheon Asian Games on Saturday.
“This is the most awesome day of my life. I am so, so happy to have two achievements on a single day. First I have won my first-ever Asian gold medal and to do this with a personal best time is just so amazing,” Alia told Gulf News.
Running against a strong opposition in the total field of 13 women, including the more fancied Bahraini duo of Eunice Chumba and Tejitu Daba Chalchissa and defending champion Preeja Sreedharan of India, Alia finished the race at 31:51.86 seconds.
The UAE athlete made her move with five laps remaining of the total 25 to break away from the main pack and finish with a final burst — nearly two seconds ahead of China’s Ding Changqin and Japan’s Ayumi Hagiwara.
“I made a promise and our athletes are here to fulfil this promise in the next few days. We have only just begun and in the next few days you can expect a few more surprises. Our athletes and their support team has put in a lot of hard work and this is the fruit we are reaping,” said a jubilant Ahmad Al Kamali, President, UAE Athletics Association (UAE AA) and IAAF Council Member.
Starting from the curve, Alia took the front of the pack at the start itself to be joined a lap later by Sitora Khamidova of Uzbekistan, Bahrain’s Chumba and Chalchissa and Japan’s Hagiwara, as 2010 gold medallist in Guangzhou Preeja Sreedharan of India hung around in the middle.
After 10 laps, there was no change in the order as the Uzbek hung on to the front chased down by the rest. At the mid-point of the race, the two Bahrainis, Hagiwara and the UAE runner replaced the Uzbek at the front.
Alia slowly started pushing her way to the front with the final eight laps to go but Chumba just refused to let go as she pursued the UAE runner. However, Alia stuck to her pace as the front pack was trimmed down to just five, including Changqin, Hagiwara, Chumba and Khamidova.
With three laps remaining, Alia pushed clear but the Chinese and Japanese managed to lay in wait a couple of metres behind. When the final lap bell went, Alia came up with an intense final thrust that saw her take a modest lead and then hold on to it to finish off with a final burst to record her personal best time.
This is the second medal for the UAE following Shaikh Juma Bin Dalmouk Al Maktoum’s bronze medal in the men’s double trap shooting two days ago.
