Posted: November 2, 2005

Athletics: Shami And Zhao Move Close To The Top In The Latest IAAF World Rankings

Monte-Carlo - Only a handful of significant changes took place in the latest edition of the IAAF World Rankings, but Qatar's Mubarak Hassan Shami and China's Chengliang Zhao certainly took advantage of their rivals not turning in their best performances.

Over the past fortnight, the Kenyan born Shami - formerly Richard Yatich - comfortably won the Venice Marathon, Italy, in 2:09:22 (1283 points) and moved up in the Men's Road Running Event Ranking to 6th place. The time is not only a personal best for Shami, but also a national record for his adopted country. Shami is the only Qatari athlete to have been ranked in the Men's Road Running Event Ranking, since its introduction in March 2004, and he has now moved into the Top-10.

Shami however was not the only gainer in the Road Running Event Ranking. Kenyan Jason Mbote became eligible for the Ranking after finishing second in the Frankfurt Marathon with 2:08:30 (1260 points). Mbote's first marathon over the past 365 days allowed the Kenyan to rejoin in 16th place.

There were further good performances in the last few days of the Chinese National Games in Nanjing. Chengliang Zhao finished second in the 50km Race Walk in 3:36:13 (1261 points), which allowed the 21-year-old to move up to 2nd place in the Men's Race Walking Event Ranking, overtaking the likes of Jefferson Pérez, Nathan Deakes and Juan Manuel Molina. Zhao improved his personal best from February by more than 2 minutes and is now tied in the Ranking with Norway's Trond Nymark, with only Spain's Francisco Javier Fernández ahead of the pair.

Zhao was not the only Chinese athlete to improve over the past fortnight. Na Shi and Yanmei Bai joined the Women's Race Walking Event Ranking. Shi is in 14th, while her compatriot is two places behind her in 16th. Bai won the 20km Race Walk in 1:27:37 (1227 points), while Shi took the bronze in 1:28:24 (1208 points).

In the Decathlon Event Ranking, Haifeng Qi joined in 15th place with 1155 points to his name, thereby becoming the top ranked Chinese decathlete. The 22-year-old won in Nanjing with 7854 points (1107 points).

See the full IAAF World Rankings at: IAAF.org.