Lao Yi celebrates after winning China's first-ever gold in the Asian Games men's 100m final. Photo: AFP

China's Liu Xiang lit up the Asian Games Monday with his long-awaited debut in the 110m hurdles but it was teammate Lao Yi who stole the show by winning the coveted 100m title.

Liu's presence, 27 months on from his calamitous outing at the Beijing Olympic Games, guaranteed a 75,000-capacity sell-out at the Aoti Main stadium, and he did not disappoint.

The former Olympic champion and world record holder cruised through his heat in 13.48 seconds with his coaches believing 13.30 seconds should be enough to win the gold medal tomorrow.

"I felt good, I was relaxed at the finishing line," said one of China's biggest sports stars, who has yet to recover the form he showed before the achilles tendon injury that ruined his Beijing Olympic dream

"I expect to run (the final) in 13.20. I'll try my best."

China's Shi Dongpeng also squeezed to the final in a time of 13.89 seconds.

Liu has already admitted that he will use this Asiad as a stepping stone to bigger and better things at the 2011 Daegu world championships and the London Olympics a year later.

While the focus was on Liu, China's Lao Yi claimed China's first-ever gold medal in the men's 100m in the Asian Games.

In front of an ecstatic crowd, Lao was slow out of the blocks and had ground to make up on Saudi Arabia's Yasir al-Nashri and Oman's Barakat al-Harthi.

But he settled into his rhythm in the second half of the race and stormed back to win in 10.24 seconds in a photo finish, dipping in front of silver medalist Nashri on the line. Harthi took bronze in 10.28.

Qatar's Nigerian-born sprinter Samuel Francis, the Asian record holder at 9.99 seconds, was earlier disqualified from the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, China's Olympic bronze medalist Zhang Wenxiu defended her Asian Games title in the women's hammer, throwing a best of 72.84 metres.

Teammate Wang Zheng won silver (68.17m), with Japan's Yuka Murofushi taking bronze (62.94m).

China's Yang Yansheng won the men's pole vault, clearing 5.50 metres. Leonid Andreev of Uzbekistan won silver, with South Korean Kim Yoo-suk taking bronze.

Agencies - Global Times