Chinese Lao Yi won a historic gold medal here on Sunday as he became the first Chinese to lift the men's 100 meters title at Asian Games.

With the absence of Qatar's Samuel Francis, the Asian record holder of the event who was disqualified in the semifinals due to false start, Lao was the favorite of the race and clocked 10.24 seconds to win the title.

Francis set a Asian record of the event in 9.99 seconds in 2007.

"I am very exciting," said the winner. "I did a lot of preparation before the Asian games. I had expected to break the national record, but I failed this time."

Lao didn't take the lead at first, but he made a strong sprint in the last meters to win the gold.

"I had my own rhythm," explained the 25-year-old.

Lao said he was bothered by injury in the previous two years, and he set a personal best of 10.21 at the National championships this year.

"My next goal is to get good results in next year's world championships," said Lao. "I am quite confident of myself."

Yasir Baalghayth Alnashri of Saudi Arabia got the silver in 10.26, and Barakat Al harthi of Oman got the bronze in 10.28.

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2010)