Durrani, Jehanara fail to impress

LAHORE: Pakistani swimmers Mohammad Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi failed to impress in the 200m freestyle heats in the Paris Olympics swimming competitions at the Paris La Defense Arena on Sunday.

Dubai-based Ahmed Durrani finished at the last 25th spot when he even failed to surpass his personal best timing by clocking one minute and 58.67 seconds. His personal best was one minute and 55 seconds.

This was the first time that Durrani was featuring in the Olympics. The top 16 progressed to the semi-finals. Meanwhile, in the 200m freestyle women’s heats, Jehanara Nabi, who was also making her Olympics debut, finished at the last 26th spot with a time of 2:10.69. She also failed to surpass her personal best time of 2:08.57. The top 16 advanced to the semi-finals.

On Saturday national shooters Joseph Gulfam and Kishmala Talat had also flopped in the 10m air pistol competitions. On Monday (today) both Joseph Gulfam and Kishmala will feature in the 10m air pistol mixed team qualification round at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre. Pakistan have seven athletes in the Olympics.

Arshad Nadeem, who is the sole medal hope, will compete on August 6. According to sources he has completely focused on his training in better weather conditions. He faced trouble while training in Lahore due to extreme hot conditions.