BAHRAIN’s Kemi Adekoya, who was stripped of the 2018 title for doping, won Asian Games 400m hurdles gold on Tuesday while Olympic champion Liu Shiyang crashed in the javelin in a shock.
On a bumper night in Hangzhou, 10 titles were decided with six nations tasting victory, including Chinese Olympic silver medallist Zhu Yaming in the men’s triple jump.
But veteran Svetlana Radzivil was dethroned in the women’s high jump, with her Uzbek teammate Safina Sadullayeva denying her a fourth straight title.
Adekoya thrust herself back into the spotlight by crossing first in a Games-record 54.45sec to consolidate her strong showing at the Budapest World championships, 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.
