Athletics: Vili 2nd in Shanghai

New Zealand Olympic shot put champion Valerie Vili has again had to play second fiddle to her European rival Nadezhda Ostapchuk.

The Belarussian scored her second successive victory over Vili last night, at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, China.

Ostapchuk ended Vili's long winning streak in March when relegating the New Zealander to the silver medal at the world indoor athletics championships in Qatar.

That marked Vili's first defeat since September, 2007, and Ostapchuk repeated the dose in Shanghai with a best throw of 20.70m, almost 1m ahead of Vili's top effort of 19.72m which earned her second place.

China's Gong Lijiao was third with 19.60m.

It was Vili's first major outing since she began working under new coach Didier Poppe last month, several weeks after she parted ways with long-time coach Kirsten Hellier.

She has since been working hard to make slight adjustments to her technique and struggled for consistency in Shanghai where three of her six puts were fouled.

Ostapchuk also fouled twice and had the luxury of not needing her sixth throw after posting three efforts in excess of 20m.

- NZPA