news

German giant Annika grabs honours on day one

DOHA: German pentathlete Annika Schleu on Saturday overcame stiff resistance from British star Samantha Murray to win the women's Champion of Champions title at AL SHAQAB Arena.

 It was the second successive win in Doha for the 26-year-old athlete who started the running competition from 8th spot before beating Murray - who went in the wrong direction in the final competition - to the gold medal.

Annika's overall tally was 1300 points while Samathaa secured second place with a score of 1293 points.

Korea's Sehee Kim (1289 points) surprised fans with a third-placed finish. Natsumi Tomonaga (Japan, 1282) and Anastasiya Prokopenko (Belarus, 1273) completed the top five.

"I feel really good because I won here last year. Maybe this is a good venue for me," Annika said. "I really enjoyed my competition today. I started in 8th place but I knew I had good combined results," she said.

"I wasn't sure about my fitness but then I wasn't sure about other athletes as well," Annika said. "But it feels good that I won. I am really surprised myself because I thought I should finish among the top 8 athletes," she said.

"That was my goal. When I started in 8th spot, I ran but I never attacked for the podium. Then I was like "wow, I am almost there". My strength was the last competition - the combined segment," Annika said.

"This was the best season of my life. I am in the 4th rank," she said.

Samantha rued the fact that she misread the direction during her first lap.

"I went the wrong way in the running course," Samantha said. "The course marshal maybe didn't know that I was coming and I was coming out of the exit. It wasn't well sign-posted.

"I turned right and I saw that I was heading toward an ambulance parked over there. I was like "oh no". I sprinted back and I was 9 seconds late. I was confused and it threw me off a bit," she added.

"My shooting was okay and I finished on the podium. As you can see anything can happen in pentathlon," the Briton said with a smile. "I am just happy to be on the podium in such a strong competition," she said.

"Annika is a strong girl and I knew I wasn't going to be able to neat her," she said.

Action continues on Sunday with men's competitions at AL SHAQAB Arena.