IN BRIEF (Page 24)

Athletics

Legat smashes indoor record

BOSTON: American Bernard Lagat made a blistering kick to crush the US record in his first indoor 5,000 meters, finishing in 13:11.50 at the 15th Boston Indoor Games on Saturday.

Ethiopia's double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba was 20 seconds off the world record in the women's 5,000m but her 14:44.53 was easily the year's fastest.

Olympic 1,500m silver medallist Nick Willis of New Zealand launched his comeback from 2009 surgery with the fastest mile of 2010, 3:55.26, to pip Americans Will Leer and David Torrance.

Kipkorir wins Beppu Oita

OITA, Japan: Jonathan Kipkorir edged past fellow Kenyan runner Daniel Njenga to win the Beppu Oita marathon yesterday.

Kipkorir and Njenga were in a shoulder-to-shoulder battle in the last two kilometers after shuffling the eight-man front group, which Kipkorir eventually won with a time of two hours 10 minutes 50 seconds.

Njenga clocked 2:10:56 for second place, while Jeffrey Hunt of Australia, who was at one point far behind the pace, caught up with the front group at about the 39km point for surprise third place in 2:11:00.

"The race was good and I'm happy because I won today. Unfortunately the race was tough for me but it was good to win," said Kipkorir, 27.

Motor Racing

Patrick finishes sixth

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida: IndyCar driver Danica Patrick survived a spinout to finish sixth in her stock car debut at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.

"That was fun," Patrick, the only woman to win an IndyCar race, said after the 80-lap ARCA race on the high-banked speedway.

"I was going side-by-side with people. My car doesn't look very pretty," she said of the dents and scrapes, "but that was fun".

Former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr and Patrick's car bumped on lap 54, sending her spinning in the grass.

Ski Mountaineering

Jilin hosts Asian event

The Leisu Asian Cup of ski mountaineering and the Asian Ski mountaineering training camp were held at the Beidahu ski resort in Jilin province from Jan 31 to Feb 6.

The events, organized by the Asian Ski Mountaineering Federation, China Mountaineering Association, Jilin Provincial Sports Bureau and Guohui (China) Co Ltd, were held to promote ski mountaineering in Asia and China's National Fitness Program. The sport, developed from modern mountaineering, features individual and team competitions which include snow walking, climbing, climbing equipment operation and skiing.

Fifty athletes from Japan, South Korea and China took part in the competition with the Chinese sweeping all of the top honors in the men's and women's speed and cross-country events.

Martial Arts

Kungfu King to kick off

The fifth International Chinese Kungfu competition, also known as Kungfu King, will kick off from March 19-21 in Chongqing city in the southwestern part of the country.

This year's event will feature competitions between players of Sanda, widely known as Chinese boxing, and Thai boxing.

Six players from each country will take part in the event. The field includes Liu Cengceng, winner of 2009 China-Thailand Challenge, Bateer, the 77.5kg national champion, and Wang Guan, runner-up at last year's Asian Thai Boxing Indoor Games. Chongqing TV will deliver live broadcasts of the competition.

(China Daily 02/08/2010 page24)