China's Sun Yingjie clocked 68 minutes and 40 seconds to win the women's individual title of the world half-marathon championships in New Delhi, India Sunday.

Sun, who ran the second fastest marathon in history last year, hit the front at the halfway mark and increased the lead in the last three kilometers to finish the 21.1-km race in a national record time.

Kenya's Lydia Cheromei finished second in 69 minutes, and Constantina Tomescu of Romania came third in 69:07, with Ireland's former 5,000 meters world champion Sonia O'Sullivan fourth.

Ethiopia claimed the women's team championship to prevent Romanian hopes of a seventh title by eight seconds. Last year's winner Russia was third.

Sun, who won the 10,000m bronze medal last year at the Paris world championships but wound up sixth at the Athens Olympics, followed the early leaders Cheromei and Ethiopia's Teyba Erkesso alongside Tomescu and O'Sullivan for the first few kilometers.

She built a slender lead at the halfway stage over Cheromei and the pair stayed together through the third quarter of the race before the Chinese pulled comfortably away, waving to the stadium

crowd as she finished.

Tomescu, who finished third in this year's London marathon, briefly led the tiring Cheromei in the last stages but the Kenyan managed to hold off the challenge.

(Xinhua News Agency October 3, 2004)