Mehboob reaches Asian Athletics Championships semis

KARACHI: Olympian Mehboob Ali made it to the semi-finals of the 400m race when he finished second in his seven-man heat by clocking 46.96 seconds on the opening day of the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships which commenced at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on Sunday.

Litvin Mikhail of Kazakhstan with 46.72 second and Abbas Mohamed Nasir of Qatar with 47.05 seconds were the others to make it to the semi-finals, which were scheduled to be held late Sunday night.

Pakistan’s sprinter Sahib-e-Asra faltered in her 100m heat, carrying seven competitors, when she finished last by clocking 12.04. Sharipova Nigina of Uzbekistan (11.47), Jassim Iman of Brunei, and le Tu Chinh of Vietnam (11.67) qualified for the semi-finals from this heat.