ASIAN ATHS CHAMPS, MANILA - 23Sept03- Shaheen loses again

MANILA, Sept 23 (AFP) - Qatari world champion SaifSaeed Shaheen was humiliated twice as China went on afinal day gold rush to emerge top overall at the Asianathletics championships here Tuesday.
Abdulrahman Amri Abdelaziz ambushed his Qataricompatriot Shaheen, the world 3,000-meter steeplechasechampion, on the last straight to flash home in 13mins 58.89secs in the men’s 5,000m final, beating hisKenyan-born countryman by three hundredths of a second.
It was the second time that suspect tactics provedShaheen’s undoing. The 20-year-old previously known as Stephen Cherono alsofailed in the men’s 1,500m Sunday, placing second toBahraini Rashid Ramzi after sprinting too early.
I was still tired having run 1,500 and 3,000 inParis and Monaco (grand prix in early September),''Shaheen told reporters. The Qatari pair peeled away from the rest of the fieldat the 2,800m mark, with Shaheen, wearing wraparoundshades, glancing behind anxiously every few paces at 20year-old Abdelaziz who was tucked in snugly in hisslipstream. I feel I miscalculated. I kept looking at this guy.If I had my way I could have gone. But I did not want togo alone. I just wanted him to be behind me,’’ saidShaheen.
This is nothing. It's not that important,'' saidShaheen, who had also elected not to run his favoritesteeplechase discipline here that was eventually won bycompatriot Khamis Abdulla. I’m not that tired. I wanted to sprint only in thelast 150 meters,’’ said Abdelaziz.
``I know myself. I am very fast in the last 150,’'said the winner, who beat Shaheen for the first time inthe distance.
The Qatari men also won the 800m through Adam AbduAdam Ali in a new meet record, the shot put throughBilal Saad Mubarak, and the 400m hurdles through MobarakSultan al-Nobi to finish the championships in secondplace with six golds.
The Chinese grabbed six golds Tuesday to raise theirfour-day tally to 19.
Ha Mingming and Huang Xiaoxiao led the charge withchampionship record-setting performances in the women’s20km walk and 400m hurdles respectively.
Ma Ning won the javelin gold for women, Wang Zhouzhouthe men’s high jump, and Chinese teams picked up themen’s 4x100 and women’s 4x400m relay titles.
Sprinter Lyubov Perepelova of Uzbekistan, Myanmartrack star Yin Yin Khine, and Kuwait’s Fawzi Al Shammariall picked up their second individual golds.
Perepelova completed the sprint double by winning thewomen’s 200m final, Yin Yin Khine added to her 400m goldby winning the women’s 800m final, and Al Shammaripicked up the men’s 200m gold to add to his 400m title.
Vitaliy Smirnov won the decathlon title to helpUzbekistan to third place overall with four golds.
Kuwait emerged fourth with three golds, one more thanKazakhstan.
Saudi Arabia won their first gold when Hussain al-Sabatook the men’s long jump title, while Sri Lanka andThailand also joined the winners with victories in relayevents.
The Sri Lankans made up for the double loss of womensprint stars Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Darshathrough injuries as their men’s 4x400m relay team took gold.
The Thai women collected the 4x100m relay title.