China and host Qatar had two golds apiece, while Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Iran claimed one each.

Japan, a traditional powerhouse in track and field, finished the first three days with 11 medals, including only one gold, but regained some confidence after Kenji Narisako ran a superb back straight on his way to victory in the 400m hurdles with a time of 48.78 seconds.

China's Meng Yan finished with silver in 49.26 and Narisako's compatriot Naohiro Kawakita claimed bronze with 50.19.

To the delight of the Japanese, Daichi Sawano then cleared a height of 5.60 meters to win the men's pole vault before Kumiko Ikeda added a third gold by taking the women's long jump with a leap of 6.81 meters.

China finished 1-2 in the women's 100m hurdles, with Liu Jing taking gold in a personal best time of 12.93 seconds. Defending champion Feng Yun, who trains under men's 110m world record holderLiu Xiang's coach Sun Haiping, came second in 13.10, and South Korea's Lee Yeon-kyung took bronze in 13.23, also a personal best.

"I am very, very excited to get the gold medal. I have been waiting for this for eight years," said 29-year-old Liu, who won silver at the Bangkok Asiad in 1998.

China's Huang Xiaoxiao, who finished fifth in the world championships last year, blew away the rest of the field to claim the women's 400m hurdles title in 55.41, a second ahead of Japan'sSatomi Kubokura.

Mubarak Hassan Shami, who was born in Kenya and now represents Qatar, won the men's marathon in 2 hours 12 minutes 44 seconds, dashing South Korea's dream of winning a fifth successive marathongold in as many Asiad.

Bahrain's Khalid Kamal Yaseen, also born in Kenya, narrowly beat Satoshi Osaki of Japan in a photo finish after both had 2:15:36.

Shami and Yaseen are among several Kenyans who have switched nationality to one of the Gulf states for better funding and opportunities to compete.

"Everybody in Kenya is running, is running faster, everyone wants gold," said Shami. "If I was in Kenya, maybe I would not be able to run for the country."

Qatar's Daham Najm Bashair staged a powerful late charge to beat Belall Mansoor Belal of Bahrain in a photo finish to win the men's 1,500m title.

Bashair came into the home straight trailing Belal and Rashid Ramzi, also from Bahrain, but caught up and then surged ahead to cross the line first in 3:38.06, just two hundredths of a second in front of Belal. Ramzi took bronze in 3:38.91.

"Yeah, I knew I had won," said Bashair. "The other guy (Belal) started bending too early at the finish, so I knew I had won."

In the men's 400m Awdah Hamdan Al Bishi claimed a third athletics gold for Saudi Arabia in 45.64, upsetting the favorite Brandon Simpson of Bahrain.

Simpson, who picked up three world championship medals running for Jamaica, was beaten by just 0.04 seconds, and defending champion Fawzi Al Shammari of Kuwait came third in 46.35.

Favorite Olga Tereshkova of Kazakhstan won the women's one-lap race, clocking the fastest time of 51.86, with Manjeet Kaur of India (52.17) taking silver and Asami Tanno of Japan (53.04) the bronze.

Asian record holder Ehsan Hadadi earned Iran's first athletics gold after snatching the men's discus title with a throw of 63.79 meters.