By Hiroki Noda,
Japan's Ririka Hironaka was overtaken by India's Parul Chaudhary in the last tens of meters in the women's 5,000 meters to settle for another silver medal at the Asian Games on Tuesday, the fifth day of athletics.
Japan was later narrowly beaten to gold by China in the men's 4x100-meter relay, the day's final race at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.
Chaudhary crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 14.75 seconds, 0.59 ahead of Hironaka, who earned silver in the 10,000 meters last Friday. Kazakhstan's Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui finished a distant third in 15:23.12.
Hironaka tried to break away from the field with three laps to go. Chaudhary gave chase, turning the race into a two-woman contest.
Hironaka appeared on course for victory before the final twist.
"When I reached the last 100, I thought I could hold on to win," she said. "I'm so disappointed that I was overtaken at the very end."
"I knew I was going to compete with the runner from India, whose (season-best) time is 15 minutes, 10 seconds. While running, I decided to make a final burst with three laps to go."
Chaudhary said, "My mind was prepared for a gold medal. I did a good job. I was thinking of my first gold medal after I won silver in the steeplechase (3,000) yesterday."
In the men's 4x100, Japan had to settle for silver following a strong finish by the Chinese team.
China stormed to the gold in 38.29 seconds to beat Japan by 0.15. South Korea got the bronze an additional 0.30 back.
The Japanese men faced a bitter scenario similar to that of Hironaka. In the anchor leg, China's Chen Jiapeng overtook Shoto Uno near the finish line.
"We are a new relay team," said former 100-meter national record holder Yoshihide Kiryu, who ran the first leg. "Our national team debutant Uno will take home a medal, so I don't think we need to get so upset."
Kiryu said Japan "might've won gold" if he and other experienced relay team member Yuki Koike had run "a bit faster."
"But this is a result of our best try," he said.
Among other events of the day, China's Zhu Yaming won the men's triple jump with 17.13 meters, while Uzbekistan's Safina Sadullaeva won the women's high jump, clearing 1.86 meters in her first attempt.
Related coverage:
Asian Games: Iran breaks table tennis medal drought with surprise run
Asian Games: 2 Koreas meet for gold in table tennis doubles
Asian Games: Sun downs Hayata in women's table tennis final
