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Eritrean teen bags first gold at Beijing

By The Assam Tribune

BEIJING, Aug 22: Unheralded Eritrean teenager Ghirmay Ghebreslassie claimed the first gold of the Beijing worlds when he sprinted away for a comfortable victory in the men�s marathon today.

The 19-year-old took the lead from Lesotho�s Tsepo Ramonene Mathibelle on the 36km mark and saw off pressure from Ethiopian Yemane Tsegay for a memorable win at Beijing�s iconic Bird�s Nest stadium.

Ghebreslassie, racing just his third marathon, clocked 2hr 12min 27sec, with Tsegay, fourth in 2009 and eighth in Moscow two years ago, taking silver in 2:13.07 and Munyo Solomon Mutai of Uganda claiming bronze (2:13.29).

It was Eritrea�s second ever world medal after Tadesse Zersenay�s silver in the 10,000m in the 2009 worlds in Berlin.

Mongolia�s Ser-Od Bat-Ochir had his moment of world fame when he took the lead for a few early kilometres, quickly swept up by the chasing pack, Bahrain�s Ethiopian-born Shumi Dechasa setting much of the early pace.

The runners swept through the 10km mark in 31:51, and a surge through the following 5km saw the pack string out with Dechasa up front, Uganda�s defending champion Stephen Kiprotich just 5sec off the pace in the chasing pack.

A definitive break predictably saw the Ethiopian trio of Lelisa Desisa, Tsegay and Berhanu Lemi, Ugandans Kiprotich, Mutai and Jackson Kiprop, and Kenyan trio Dennis Kimetto, Wilson Kipsang and Mark Korir all eyeing each other up.

Shot put gold: Christina Schwanitz claimed the women�s shot put gold medal at the World Athletics Championships here on Saturday.

The German star registered the winning throw of 20.37 metres, seven centimetres over Chinese Gong Lijiao, who took the silver medal, reports Xinhua. � AFP/IANS

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