Shajar Abbas sets national record, qualifies for semis at Asian Athletics Championship

Pakistan’s ace sprinter Shajar Abbas Thursday qualified for the semi-finals of the 100m event during the ongoing Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Abbas clocked 10.37 seconds during the heat and ended up in third place in the heat. He was 9th among 40 athletes who took part in various heats. Shajar also broke his own national record, since his latest result was better than the 10.38 seconds he set at the Commonwealth Games last year.

Though the Pakistani sprinter ran 100m in 10.25s in Islamic Solidarity Games as well but global athletics body had disqualified all the timings recorded at ISG in Turkey due to irregular measurements.

The semi-final of the 100m event will take place tomorrow and Shajjar is grouped in the 2nd semi-final along with Hiroki Yangatia of Japan who was a gold medalist in 4x100 in last year’s World U20 Athletics Championship and Qatar’s Femi Ogunode – a former Gold medalist of Asian Games and Asian Championship.

Eight players - the top two of each semi-final heat along with the next two best finishers – will qualify for the final. An improved performance from today’s can help Pakistani sprinter qualify for the final.

The final race will also be played on Friday evening.