2008-01-22
Asian Elite Runners Fight for Ultimate Honour
in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2008

[22 January 2008, Hong Kong] The 11th Asian Marathon Championships will be held in conjunction with Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2008 on Sunday, 17 February 2008. 33 elite runners from 15 Asian countries will take part in the Championships and run for national glory. This is Hong Kong's second time appointed as host city of Asian Marathon Championships. Lai Hok-yan, Lau Kong-man, Ng Kam-tai, Fan Sui-Ping and Wong Siu-ping will form the Hong Kong Team and push for success in the hometown.

Bahrain will send two great men to Hong Kong this time - Abdulhak El Gouche and Khalid Kamal Yaseen, who represented Bahrain in 2006 Doha Asian Games and 2007 Osaka IAAF World Athletics Championships. They are also considered as the favorites to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

El Gouche, aged 33, who is atop the Asian marathon runners, achieved his personal best time of 2:11:49 in 2006 Rome Marathon. El Gouche was born in Morocco and famous in the athletic world at an early age. During his days in Morocco, El Gouche was the national champion of 5,000m (Time 13:49.2) and 10,000m (Time 28:07.9) in 1997 and 1999 respectively. He also represented Morocco in 1999 and 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships helping the country to acquire top-3 position.

Experienced Khalid Kamal Yaseen once helped Bahrain to win a silver medal in 2006 Doha Asian Games (Time 2:15:36). Before switching his nationality to Bahrain, Yaseen had several achievements in Kenya such as winning 2004 Safaricom Marathon by refreshing the course record in 2:19:01 and getting the 2nd runner-up in 2004 Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon in 2:14:35.

Despite China and Japan are the traditional marathon powerhouses in Asia, their supremacy will sorely be tested in next month's battle. Chinese representative Su Wei acquired encouraging results in 2005 Beijing Marathon (Time 2:16:26; 11th), 2006 Doha Asian Games (Time 2:18:55; 6th) and achieved his personal best time of 2:14:53 in 2007 Beijing Marathon with a top-10 finish. Fukuoka Koichiro from Japan achieved his personal best of 2:16:50 in 2007 Lake Biwa Marathon with a 14th place. Both Su Wei and Fukuoka Koichiro has to try hard to catch up the distance with other master-graded competitors.

China, Japan and Peoples' Republic of Korea take absolute advantages among the world of women's marathon in Asia. Jong Yong Ok, an experienced runner from Peoples' Republic of Korea, showed great determination to win. Jong has just achieved her personal best time of 2:26:02 in 2007 Pyongyang Marathon recently and her encouraging performance in 2007 Beijing Marathon (Time 2:32:28; 7th), 2005 Helsinki IAAF World Championships (Time 2:29:43; 14th) as well as 2006 Doha Asian Games (Time 2:48:49; 6th), make her confident in grasping the Asian Marathon Championship title with justified optimism.

Japanese runner Hikichi Mika is an up-and-coming star of women's marathon. She did extremely good result and achieved top-10 position by her first time participation in 2006 Nagoya Marathon. By then, Mika finished 4th place in Sapporo Marathon (Time 2:36:15) and famed for her top-6 position in 2007 Tokyo Women International Marathon (Time 2:34:14). In order to secure her place in 2008 Beijing Olympics, Mika would do her best at the 2008 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.

China will send the 19-year-old youth woman runner Zheng Wen-rong, junior runner-up of 2007 National Cross Country Championships. Her amazing performance in 2007 Shanghai Marathon (Time 2:38:10, 2nd-runner-up) help her win the qualification to compete in the Asian Marathon Championships. Moreover, Zheng Wen-rong achieved her personal best time of 2:35:29 in 2006 Beijing Marathon.

These 3 women runners would undoubtedly envy for the top-3 positions of the Asian Marathon Championships, followed by home grown Lai Ka-wai. Lai Ka-wai represented Hong Kong for many years and achieved top-5 position in the Asia Marathon Championship previously. Taking advantage as the host city representative, she can hopefully hit top-3 position by surprise.

Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2008 attracts a huge crowd of 50,000 local and international runners and continues to set participation records year on year. This further strengthens the event's superior position and prestigious status as one of the largest and most popular sports events in the region.