Sparkling Shajar storms into 200m semis

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. His best in the 200m is 20.87.

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.

England’s Zharnel Hughes topped the pack by clocking 20.30 seconds, 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 superb 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.

Nasir-Tayyab enter doubles pre-quarters

Pakistan’s top squash pair of Nasir Iqbal and Tayyab Aslam on Thursday blasted their way into the men’s doubles pre-quarter-finals when they demolished Ghana’s pair of Evans Ayih and Clement Anafo 2-0 in the round of 32 in connection with the Commonwealth Games here at the University of Birmingham squash centre.

The Pakistani duo took just 12 minutes to seal the victory with the set scores being 11-1, 11-1.

They will now face Greg Lobban and Rory Stewart of Scotland in the pre-quarter-finals on Friday (today) at 6:15pm PST.

In the mixed doubles round of 16, the pair of Nasir and Faiza Zafar was set to face New Zealand’s Joello King and Paul Coll of New Zealand at 10 PM PST Thursday.

In the women’s doubles round of 16, the pair of Faiza and Amna was scheduled to meet Malaysia’s pair of Rachel Arnold and Aifa Azman at 12pm PST Thursday.

Fahad faces England’s Drinkhall

Pakistan’s sole table tennis player Fahad Khwaja will meet England’s Paul Drinkhall in the round of 32 match of the men’s singles table tennis event of the Commonwealth Games here at the National Exhibition Centre on Friday (today).

Fahad on Wednesday had defeated Christopher Franklin of Guyana 4-0 in the preliminaries. After winning the first set 11-5, Fahad never looked back and went on to sweep the next three sets 11-9, 11-7, 11-6 to seal a fantastic win.

Ghazala loses

to Tahlia

Pakistan’s No2 shuttler Ghazala Siddique on Thursday exited when she was undone by Jamaica’s Tahlia Richardson 2-0 in the women’s singles round of 32 badminton event of the Commonwealth Games here at the National Exhibition Centre.

After winning the first game 21-15, the Jamaican kept the pressure on Ghazala and sealed straight sets win after winning the second set 21-14. Ghazala on Wednesday defeated Vicky Chater of Faulkland Islands 2-0 to progress.