UAE's Betlhem Blayneh misses out on medal again

A day after ending fifth in the 1,500m, she finishes in same place in the women's 5,000 metres at the Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, on Saturday.

For the second consecutive day, the UAE's Betlhem Blayneh was just out of the medals at the Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, as she finished fifth in the women's 5,000 metres, with compatriot Alia Saeed one place ahead of her.

Saeed finished 10 seconds behind Japan's Yuriko Kobayashi, who took bronze, while Blayneh beat Indonesia's Triyaningsih on the line to clinch fifth place.

The race was won by Bahrain's Tejitu Daba Chalchissa who set a championship record of 15:22.48, knocking more than three seconds off the time recorded by Wang Junxia of China in 1995.

On Friday, Blayneh finished fifth in the 1,500m, less than three seconds behind India's Jaisha Puthiyaveetil, who won bronze.

The Ethiopian-born Chalchissa, 19, has now qualified for the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, which start on August 27. "It's an important win for me," Chalchissa said. "This was a good competition and it will give me a lot of confidence."

Her win led a Bahrain sweep of the 5,000m as Dejenee Regasa Mootumaa, also from Ethiopia, won the men's race in a championship record time.

Elsewhere, Omar Al Salfa of the UAE won his 200m heat with ease, in a time of 21.10 seconds, to earn a place in Sunday's final.