Sprinting into a major test

Even with sprinter Xie Zhenye's withdrawal diminishing China's medal prospects, the national athletics team is determined to go all out at the Asian Games to gauge preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

As a highlight of the track and field action in Jakarta, the head-to-head battle between China and Japan in sprinting events is now tilted toward the Japanese side after Xie, China's second fastest man and a formidable member of the relay team, was forced to pull out of the competition due to a right ankle injury.

Still, Su Bingtian, holder of the Asian record in the 100m, shrugs off the negative impact of his teammate's absence.

"Xie's withdrawal is definitely a big loss for us and affects the whole team's morale, but it opens up opportunities for our young guns to be honed, which is a positive thing for the long run," Su told China Daily at the team's mobilization meeting for the Asiad on Monday.

"Our younger teammates have proven abilities in training; they just need more big-time exposure and experience. The Asian Games serve as a great test. Our goal is set far beyond, to making breakthroughs in the relay at the 2020 Olympics."

Citing an injury sustained at the IAAF Diamond League's London leg in July, Xie announced his withdrawal last Thursday, leaving Su the only member on the current relay team who was on China's silver-winning squad at the 2015 world championships in Beijing.

Young sprinter Liang Jinsheng, Xu Zhouzheng and Xu Haiyang, all debutants at the Asiad in Jakarta, are likely to join Su in the relay, which kicks off its final run on Aug 30.

Japan will have core members Yoshihide Kiryu and Aska Cambridge from its silver-winning team at the Rio Olympics, where they set the Asian record of 37.60 seconds. At the Diamond League London final, Japan won silver in 38.90 sec, while China finished fifth one second slower without Su.

With the Asiad relay shaping up as a close battle that could go either way, Su boasts confidence that the individual 100m is only about how fast he can run.

"I don't pay much attention to any opponents; I only care about how much I can bring out in the final," said Su, who tied the Asian mark of 9.91 sec, also held by Qatar's Femi Ogunode, at the IAAF World Challenge meet in Madrid in June.

The 28-year-old attributed his breakthrough in the Western-dominated event to an effective winter training program overseen by US coach Randy Huntington, who guided American long jumper Mike Powell to the current world record of 8.95 meters in 1991.

Huntington, who has renewed his contract with the Chinese Athletics Association through Tokyo 2020, took over Su's training last year and believes his student could continue to get faster.

"All of it, the whole thing," Huntington said of Su's progress. "Technique, physical training, speed ... we re-engineered him from the bottom up. We tore him apart and put him back together again. All I do is give him the opportunity through my eyes and abilities, and he absorbed it incredibly quickly."

Meanwhile, female sprinter Wei Yongli, who clocked 10.99 in a 100m race in Geneva on July 1 to become the first Chinese woman in two decades to crack 11 seconds, is expected to defend her title in Jakarta, while men's 110m hurdler Xie Wenjun will try to maintain China's dominance in the event despite having to compete with an injury.

China's other gold medal contenders in Jakarta include women's shot put world champion Gong Lijiao and javelin thrower Lyu Huihui, the current women's Asian record holder who set the mark with a throw of 67.59m at the 2017 world championships in London.

Tian Xiaojun, deputy manager of the Asiad team, said China has 81 athletes competing in 47 athletics events at the Games, and expects to lead the medal tally by winning at least 13 gold and 40 overall.

China finished on top of the athletics medal table with 15 gold and 40 total at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.