Sergey, Xie arrives for Grand Prix amidst security

Guwahati, Jun 21 (UNI) Sergey Zasimovich and Xie Limei arrived today from Bangkok to continue their domination over the Asian Grand Prix circuit as the second leg begins at Guwahati on Saturday.

Sergey Zasimovich and Xie Limei posted personal bests and Asia's leading marks for the season respectively in the men's High Jump and women's Triple Jump as the 2007 Asian Grand Prix series which got off to a rousing start at the National Stadium at Bangkok on last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a concerned Assam Government had handed over the entire security of the stadium complex to the Army, which had already moved in making the stadium almost out of bounds for normal civilians.

However, as the athletes arrived, the Indira Gandhi Stadium at Sarusajai have been teeming with activities with the athletes getting adjusted to the climatic changes. Guwahati is little more humid than Bangkok and that is the reason, most of the competition has been kept in the evening time.

At Bangkok Zasimovich sailed over the bar at 2.30 metres, bettering his previous best of 2.23 metres achieved last year, while Xie Limei, one of the six Asian Games women's champions in the field here, pulled off a last-round jump of 14.73m to outclass the triple jumping opposition.

The Asian Games Trimple Jump champion Li Yanxi would like to correct the mistakes of Bangkok where he ended sixth, giving the title to Renjith Meheswary who jumped 18.68 meter.

However the results of the first leg have clearly demonstrated that except the High Jump for Men and Triple Jump for Women, in most of the other disciplines, none of the Asian records are under threat All eyes would be on them, along with home crowd favourite Anju Bobby Goerge.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Xie Limei jumped to touch a new distance in women's Triple Jump. She had two other attempts beyond the 14-metre mark, while no one else went that far. The Chinese, Asian Games champion in Dohalast year, had a previous best of 14.54m, achieved in Shijiazhuang last year.

UNI