Asian Games official stable after being hit by hammer throw

An official is injured after Kuwait's Ali Zankawi throws the hammer through the net during the Men's Hammer Throw Final at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. AFP

An Asian Games athletics official was said to be in a stable condition after suffering a broken leg and serious bleeding after being hit by a misthrown hammer in Hangzhou.

Huang Qinhua, 62, suffered the injury on Saturday after Kuwaiti hammer thrower Ali Zankawi lined up to take a throw in the men’s hammer final at the eastern Chinese city’s Olympic Stadium.

Al Zankawi mistimed his release and instead of throwing the hammer into the outfield sent it out low and to the right, the 7.26kg flying metal ball smashing into the leg of the sitting technical official.

Huang grimaced and swayed dizzily as Zankawi rushed to check on him, blood shooting out of the wound.

Within seconds Zankawi was using his hands to improvise a tourniquet on Huang’s thigh and halt the bleeding. A team of medics soon took Huang away on a stretcher after applying a tourniquet, then sent him to a nearby hospital.

“He arrived at the hospital at 20:15, where was diagnosed with a right open tibiofibular fracture,” Games spokesman Xu Deqing told a news conference on Sunday. “Currently his vital signs are stable.”

A clearly shaken Zankawi took part in the final, won by China's Wang Qi, with the Kuwaiti finishing down in eighth.