WUHAN, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The athletics events at the 7th CISM Military World Games started here on Tuesday, and Bahrain took three of the eight gold medals on offer.

Asian champion Winfred Yavi won Bahrain the first gold medal in the tournament in the women's 3,000m steeplechase in nine minutes and 19.24 seconds, and her compatriots set pace in both men's and women's 400m events. Abbas Abubakar Abbas finished first in 45.84 seconds to top men's podium, while the two-time world champion Salwa Naser spearheaded the women's 400m in 50.15 seconds.

"It feels amazing. For me, I'm happy because this is my last 400m for this season and I can now go off-season," said 21-year-old Naser.

"The people in Bahrain will be happy also that I got to win the gold medal in the Military Games," she added.

Hassan Taftian of Iran took home the men's 100m gold in 10.24, followed by Paulo Andre Oliveira of Brazil in 10.32 and Amaury Golitin of France in 10.35.

Sprinter Carolle Zahi, representing the French military in the Games for the first time, won the women's 100m in 11.36 seconds. Brazilians Rosangela Santos (11.39) and Vitoria Rosa (11.40) collected a silver and a bronze respectively.

"Now I'm going to go on a holiday and rest. I will stay at home in Paris, nothing special, but really take my mind off track and field as this season was really very long. After that I am going to work towards Tokyo [Olympic Games]," Zahi said.

Brazilian shot putter Darlan Romani, who finished fourth in Doha Athletics World Championships, broke the military games world record with 22.36 meters.

"We have prepared for this and once again the results came through. These are positive points for the Olympic Games next year. Now it's time to celebrate this medal," Romani said.

Later on Tuesday, Ilia Ivanuik of Russia recorded 2.20 meters to take men's high jump gold while China's Wang Zheng won women's hammer throw with 69.34 meters.