doha, qatar, cmc

Jamaican-born quarter- miler Brandon Simpson had to settle for second spot in the Asian Games 400 metres final last Sunday.

Now competing for Bahrain after switching his allegiance from Jamaica last year, Simpson clocked 45.68 seconds, losing to Saudi Arabia's Hamdan Al Bishi, who overtook him in the final metres, winning in 45.64 seconds.

The 25-year-old Simpson entered the final favoured to win after his season's best 44.66 seconds which placed him sixth on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Performance List for quarter-milers.

Afterward, Al Bishi, the 2000 World Junior Champion said, "I trained very well for these Games. we (he and his coach) had known that the Bahraini (Simpson) would be the most difficult challenger and we had planned a strategy to race against him.

"It worked and I am happy," Al Bishi declared.

A dejected Simpson cited competition overload this year for his defeat in Doha.

"It is difficult to compete from December to December," he said.

"That is why I fell short, the winner (Al Bishi) ran a good race and deserved to win it," Simpson added.