Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Taiwanese javelin thrower Cheng Chao-tsun won Taiwan's first gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar on Monday with a meet record in the javelin.
Cheng took gold by setting an Asian Athletics Championships record with a throw of 86.72 meters, edging out Shivpal Singh of India, who registered a distance of 86.23 meters.
The gold medal performance qualified Cheng for a spot in the World Athletics Championships to be held in Doha in late September.
Taiwan's Huang Shi-feng almost made it two medals for the country in the event, finishing fourth with a throw of 81.46 meters, just behind bronze medalist Ryohei Arai of Japan's 81.93 meters.
The title meant that Cheng may be rounding back into form after being hampered by injury.
Cheng set a new Asian record in the javelin with a gold medal-winning throw of 91.36 meters at the Universiade in Taipei in 2017, but he injured himself while training for the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, where he could only manage a fifth place finish with a distance of 79.81 meters.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's "Hurdle King" Chen Chieh won the silver medal in the men's 400-meters hurdles with a personal best time of 48.92 seconds. He finished well behind Abderrahman Samba of Qatar, who won gold with a time of 47.51 seconds.
It was Chen's third consecutive 400m hurdles silver medal at the Asian Athletics Championships.
Chen, who represented Taiwan at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, set his previous best in event of 49.05 seconds at the Taipei Summer Universiade in 2017.
The Asian Athletics Championships run until April 24.
