HANGZHOU, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Local favorite Li Ling renewed her own pole vault Games record to win her third straight gold medal while reigning world champion Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain broke the women's 3,000m steeplechase Games record with a convincing victory at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Monday.

The 34-year-old Li needed only two attempts to clear 4.30-meter and 4.53m en route to clinching her third consecutive Asian Games gold. She went on to clear 4.63m with the first try, improving the Games record she set five years ago in Jakarta by three centimeters.

Li then chose to attack on her Asian record of 4.72m, but her three attempts at 4.73m all went in vain.

Japan's Misaki Morota took the silver at a career best of 4.48m. Niu Chunge of China finished third at 4.30m.

"Today my goal was not only to win the gold. I hoped to set a new personal best," said Li.

"I feel that I might not be as nervous as before. When I first participated in the Asian Games, I would get very nervous, but now my mindset is much calmer," she said. "This is because my goal is very clear and it's to break my personal best. When I set my goal higher, I don't have an overwhelming obsession with the gold medal because I have higher objectives to pursue."

The 23-year-old defending champion Yavi took the pole position soon after the start and met barely no real threat all the way until hitting the finish line in style in nine minutes and 18.28 seconds, chopping more than 13 seconds off the previous Games record of 9:31.36 set by fellow Bahraini Ruth Jebet in 2014.

Indian duo Parul Chaudhary and Priti both achieved personal best times to finish second and third respectively.

"I am happy because I came here to defend my Asian Games title," said Yavi said. "I had a lot of pressure as people all say 'you're going to win.' But anything can happen. So I was careful, and just tried to break the Asian Games record."

It was the second gold medal for Yavi in two days as she also grabbed the 1,500m gold on Sunday night. And her countrywoman Oluwakemi Adekoya won her second gold medal in Hangzhou as well. Adekoya helped the Bahraini team win the 4X400m mixed relay race ahead of India and Kazakhstan. Two day ago she also snatched the 400m gold medal in the Hangzhou Olympic Center Stadium.

Veronica Shanti Pereira of Singapore sprinted to a 23.03-second victory in women's 200m event. China's Li Yuting finished second in 23.28, followed by defending champion Edidiong Ofonime Odiong of Bahrain in 23.48.

Koki Ueyama outdashed Abdullah Abkar Mohammed of Saudi Arabia to claim the men's 200m title in 20.60, which is Japan's first athletics gold medal in Hangzhou after three days of action.

Mohammed trailed 0.03 seconds behind to settle with the silver, while the bronze went to Yang Chun-Han of Chinese Taipei in 20.74.

In men's 110m hurdles, Japanese Shunya Takayama and Kuwait's Yaqoub Alyouha both clocked 13.41 and even the photo finish image failed to separate the duo as their readings of photo finish tied at 0.409.

Takayama and Alyouha shared the top podium and China's Xu Zhuoyi took the bronze at 13.50.

In women's long jump, the top three finishers all improved their career best marks. China's Xiong Shiqi added eight centimeters to her PB to win the gold at 6.73m. India's Ancy Sojan Edappilly ranked second at 6.63m, followed by Yue Nga Yan of Hong Kong, China, at 6.50m.

Iran's four-time defending champion Ehsan Hadadi failed to continue his winning streak in men's discus. His teammate Hossein Rasouli took the gold at 61.28m. China's Abdughani Turghun finished third behind Hadadi. Enditem

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