DOHA, Dec 10 - Mubarak Hassan Shami won the men's Asian Games marathon for hosts Qatar on Sunday, cruising to victory on a humid morning in the capital of his adopted country.

The 26-year-old broke away from the other frontrunners before the 25km mark and ran through the tape in a time of 2:12.44, nearly three minutes ahead of the field, to win Qatar's first athletics gold medal of the Games.

"I broke away because everybody else in the race was going slow," Shami said. "The chase pack was much too slow. That makes my gold medal much easier to get."

In a dramatic battle for silver, Bahrain's Khalid Kamal Yaseen caught up with a despairing Satoshi Osaki of Japan in the last few metres and took second place in a photo finish, making it a one-two for Kenyan-born athletes.

"I ran at a comfortable pace the whole time," Yaseen said. "It felt like I was in training again. I could have put more pressure on Shami, maybe I should have."

Yaseen, formerly known as Peter Ndegwa, was credited with the same time as the Japanese of 2:15.36.

"I did my best," said Osaki. "I don't regret anything I did in the race. I'm satisfied with the result."

Shami, who was born Richard Yatich and became a Qatar citizen last March, was the fourth African import to win athletics gold at the Games.

"Everybody in Kenya is running faster, everybody wants a gold," he said. "If I was in Kenya maybe I would not be able to run for the country."

Another Bahraini import, former Moroccan Abdulhak Zakaria, pulled out at 25 km.

"There were no injuries," said his coach Khalid Bourami. "He felt good before the race and was training well in preparation.

"I am disappointed, I thought he'd fight much better."