China topped the medals tally again at the 16th Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon, South Korea. The games that ended on Sunday saw China take home 15 golds, seven silvers and 10 bronzes. Although Chinese athletes bagged 19 golds at the last championships two years ago, this year's haul was enough to send them to the top of the medals table.

Huang Xiaoxiao stormed to victory in the women's 400 meters hurdles to earn China their 15th gold medal in the final day's competition at the Munhak Stadium on Sunday.

Huang, who finished fifth in the Helsinki World Championships last month, proved she was in a class of her own in Asia, winning by a margin of 0.76 seconds.

The 22-year-old led all the way and clocked 55.63 seconds. She beat the championship record of 55.66 seconds she set at the Manila Asian Championships two years ago.

"My coach told me to run between 55 and 56 seconds, but I know that it's enough to win the gold by running 56 seconds," Huang said.

Malaysia's Noraseela Mohd Khalid finished second in 56.39 seconds, and Japan's Makiko Yoshida won the bronze in 56.85 seconds.

In the 4 x 400m women's relay, Huang and her teammates failed to clinch the gold, finishing a disappointing fourth in a time of three minutes 37.11 seconds.

Japan finished second overall in the tally with six golds, five silvers and 12 bronzes, and Qatar was third with six golds, three silvers and three bronzes, thanks mostly to their middle and long distance runners. Hosts South Korea finished seventh with one gold, seven silvers and one bronze.

The next Asian Athletics Championships will be held in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)