Hardeep Kaur wins bronze in hammer throw

India's Hardeep Kaur claimed the bronze medal in the women's hammer throw at the 14th Asian Athletics Championships, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday.

The 25-year-old national champion from Punjab, who had cleared 61.56 metres at the Punjab National Games last year, could only manage 57.82 meters, though it was better than her effort at the Commonwealth Games.

At Manchester, she failed to qualify for the final, missing the qualifying mark by a whisker as she hurled the iron ball to a distance of 55.98 metres and finished behind Scotland's Mhairi Walters, who qualifed with an effort of 56.03 metres.

Gu Yuan of Peoples Republic of China won the gold with a new Asian Athletic Championship record of 71.10 meters. Huang Chih Feng of Taiwan won the sliver with a throw of 58.19 meters.

Gu cleared 71.10 metres on her third attempt, shattering her 1998 Asian Athletics Championships record of 61.86 metres and compatriot Ying Hui's Asian record of 68.06 metres, which was set in May.

In the women's heptathlon, 110 metres hurdles, Soma Biswas won heat 2 with 941 points while J J Shoba finished second in the heat 1 with 953 points.

Meanwhile, the next edition of the Asian Athletics Championships will be held at Manila, Philippines, in 2003, Asian Athletics Association president Suresh Kalmadi said.

Briefing the media on Thursday's meeting of the AAA Council and Congress, Kalmadi said the Championships would henceforth be rescheduled to avoid clashing with the Asian Games.

The ongoing championships have been shorn of lustre because of the absence of leading athletes who are preparing for next month's Asian Games in Busan.

The Congress decided to shed the word 'amateur' from the association's name. It would now be known only as the Asian Athletics Association.

Venues for other championships were also decided at the meeting.

Next year's indoor athletics championships would be held in Teheran from April 16 to 18.

The 11th Asian junior championships would be held in 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, the 9th Asian Marathon in 2004 in Seoul, and the Asian All-Star Championships in 2004 in Singapore.

Kalmadi said there would be four Grand Prix championships in the 2003 series, with either Colombo or Kuala Lumpur being added to Hyderabad, Bangkok and Manila.

The dates for the first Afro-Asian Games in New Delhi were finalised as October 24 to November 1, 2003. The South-East Asian Games were awarded to Hanoi, Vietnam. They will be held in October 2003.