Shajar qualifies for 200m semis in Birmingham
From our correspondent
BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s emerging sprinter Shajar Abbas on Thursday did a fine job when he qualified for the semi-finals of the 200 metres race of the athletics competitions of the Commonwealth Games here at the Alexander Stadium.
Shajar clocked 21.12 seconds to top his heat-2 and blasted his way into the semi-finals to be held on Friday (today) at 11pm PST.
Shajar has been drafted in the semi-finals-1.
Although this was not Shajar’s personal best time in the 200 metres race but he has caught rhythm and it is expected that he will pull off his personal best in what could be an enthralling competition on Friday.
The first two in each eight heats and the next eight fastest qualified for the semi-finals. Overall Shajar finished 12th out of 58 athletes. Samoa’s William Angliss Hunt was disqualified.
England’s Zharnel Hughes topped the pack by clocking 20.30 seconds and he was followed by Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon who finished second with 20.44. Joseph Paul Amoah of Ghana ended third overall with a 20.58 seconds timing.
It was a fine run in the event so far from Shajar who also equaled his national record in the 100m sprint the other day and narrowly missed the semi-finals spot by clocking 10.38 seconds.