China impress on field events at Beijing Grand Prix

China’s Paralympic stars continued to make their mark on the third and final day of competition on Monday (15 May) at the Beijing Grand Prix.

With less than nine weeks to go until the start of the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, many of China’s leading Para athletes have made a big impression over the three days of competition – particularly in the field events.

Monday’s action saw Paralympic shot put champion Liwan Yang (F54) complete a hat trick of Grand Prix victories with gold in the women’s javelin F34/53/54 to add to her shot put and discus wins over the previous two days.

Yang, who won silver in the javelin at the 2015 World Championships, threw 17.55m – three centimetres farther than her best at Rio 2016, where she finished fourth.

China’s Tongqing Shen saw off world record holder and Paralympic bronze medallist Pengxiang Sun to win the men’s javelin F41. The 26-year-old’s fourth-round effort of 41.92m beat Sun’s best of 40.56m on the day.

Multiple world and Paralympic champion Juan Yao failed to get near her world record mark of 40.51m in the women’s javelin F44, but 34.63m was enough for the win.

Reigning world champion Chunliang Guo’s opening round throw of 52.42m – his only valid mark of the competition – was enough for gold in the javelin F46.

China’s two-time triple jump world champion and world record holder Fuliang Liu showed he’s still the man to beat as he hopped, skipped and jumped his way to gold with a distance of 13.90m in the triple jump T47.

In the women’s long jump T37, China’s 19-year-old Paralympic champion Xiaoyan Wen managed 4.96m – 18cm shy of her world record mark from Rio 2016.

The host nation continued to excel as Huimin Zhong leapt 4.12m in the women’s long jump T11. In the men’s T11/12 event, it was Xingyu Chen (T11) who took the top spot with a best of 6.08m.

There were wins for Para athletes from outside China too. Syria secured two golds as Alaa Abdul Salam (F53) won the men’s javelin F53/55 with a first-round throw of 16.65m, and teammate Bassam Sawsak (F42) reached 43.41m to take gold in the F42/44.

Singapore’s Muhammad Diroy Noordin won the javelin F40 with 26.68m and Japan’s Wataru Sakamoto threw 12.21m in the F34 class.

Back out on the track, world bronze medallist Dongdong Di clinched his third gold of the Grand Prix with a win in the 400m T11. The 23-year-old clocked 53.89 seconds to go second in the world rankings behind Brazilian Daniel Silva.

Double Paralympic champion Jianwen Hu also notched up his third win in Beijing as he took the tape in the men’s 400m T37/38 in 57.58.

The men’s 400m T54 was won by Yang Liu (47.48) ahead of teammate Chengming Liu (48.75) while in the men’s T53 race South Korean Byunghoon Yoo (52.80) took gold.

There were wins for Indian Para athletes too – Jayanit Behera (1:02.12) took the tape in the women’s 400m T46/47 and Lal Vinay Kumar (57.06) won the men’s 400m T43/44/46.

Malaysia also earned a place at the top of the podium thanks to Asian Para Games champion Siti Noor Iasah Mohamad Ariffin (1:01.41) in the women’s 400m T20, with teammate Mohd Raduan Emeari (1:03.62) winning the men’s T36 equivalent.

There was gold for Thailand’s Kewalin Wannaruemon (1:15.12) in the women’s 400m T11 as China’s reigning world champion Cuiqing Liu failed to start.

In the day’s 1,500m races, China’s Rio 2016 finalist Jing Ma (3:33.66) pipped Paralympic marathon champion Lihong Zou (3:33.93) to the line in the T54 race, while Chengming Liu (3:05.19) reasserted his strength in the men’s T54 class, finishing well clear of his rivals.

There were wins for Beijing 2008 champion Zhen Zhang (T11) (4:26.18) in the men’s 1,500m T11/20, while Paralympic marathon gold medallist Chaoyan Li (4:23.68) won the T46 event.

Full results can be found here.

The 2017 World Para Athletics Grand Prix series continues in Paris, France from 30-31 May.