Asian long jump champion Mohammed Salman Al-Khuwalidi broke the 8-meter barrier (8.01) to win Saudi Arabia a bronze medal in the World Indoor Athletic Championships here Saturday. The gold went to South Africa's Godfrey Mokoena who overhauled early leader Chris Tomlinson of Britain with a fifth-round leap of 8.08 meters. Tomlinson had touched 8.06. Earlier, Liu Xiang of China and Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia proved that they are ready for the Beijing Olympics. China's biggest star in athletics competed in his first 60-meter hurdles competition of the season Saturday and dominated from the heats to the final to win his first gold medal at the World Indoor Championships. In the most touted event of the three-day championships, Dayron Robles did not keep his part of the bargain to challenge Liu. The Cuban was eliminated in the heats when he wrongly assumed a false start. Despite a slow start, Liu moved into the lead halfway through the race to win in 7.46 seconds. American veteran and triple indoor champion Allen Johnson took silver in 7.55. Isinbayeva was as solid as ever in competition to win her third straight world indoor title, holding off rising US vaulter Jennifer Stuczynski. Both cleared 4.75 meters, but the Russian needed fewer attempts. Both failed three times at 4.85. In the women's 60 hurdles, world record holder Susanna Kallur pulled out with a hamstring injury she sustained during her warmup for the semifinals, robbing the Swede of a likely gold. Instead, LoLo Jones and Candice Davis led an American 1-2 finish in the event. The result left the US team on top of the medal standings with three golds and eight medals overall. Isinbayeva gave Russia its first gold, and with four medals overall, it is in second place ahead of Sunday's 14 finals. In the most controversial race of the day, Deresse Mekonnen of Ethiopia was first disqualified from the 1,500m for running outside his lane but later reinstated for gold, pushing favorite Daniel Kipchirchir Komen of Kenya back to a silver. Komen came back from a bout of flu two weeks ago to momentarily claim the unlikely title, leaving the 20-year-old Mekonnen in tears. The Ethiopian protest was accepted when video pictures showed Mekonnen was pushed. Olympic champion Stefan Holm won gold for Sweden in the high jump, clearing 2.36 meters to beat defending champion Yaroslav Rybakov of Russia. It was his fourth indoor world title. Meseret Defar won her third straight 3,000-meter title, leading a 1-2 Ethiopian finish ahead of Meselech Melkamu. Cuba got a gold medal from Yargelis Savigne, who set a Central American record of 15.05 on her last attempt in the triple jump, overtaking Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece by 5 centimeters. Maria Mutola of Mozambique won her semifinal heat in the 800 to stay on course for her record eighth gold in the event. __
