Olympian Mehboob Ali makes it to semi-finals of 23rd Asian Athletics Championships
Mehboob Ali made it to the semi-finals of the 400 meter race as he finished on the second spot among the seven competitors yesterday at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar.
Olympian Mehboob Ali made it to the semi-finals of the 400 meter race as he finished on the second position in his seven-man heat by clocking 46.96 seconds on the opening day of the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships. Litvin Mikhail of Kazakhstan and Qatar's Abbas Mohamed Nasir, with their 46.72 and 47.05 seconds, also made it to the semi-finals of the same category.
While another athlete from Pakistan, sprinter Sahib E Asra was not able to perform well as he finished last in her 100 meter heat, carrying seven competitors by clocking 12.04. Sharipova Nigina of Uzbekistan (11.47), Brunei's Jassim Iman and le Tu Chinh from Vietnam (11.67) qualified for the semi-finals of this category.
The 23rd Asian Athletics Championships are having the usual continental teams. After the Japanese dominance over the championship, China had been undisputed champions for 17 successive editions until they were unseated by last edition’s hosts and eventual winners, India.
Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) have sent 5 of its best athletes to take part in this mega international event but the federation admits that not all of the sent athletes are fully prepared to participate in the international championships as despite of the several requests by the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) for sponsoring a camp, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) did not support the five athletes.
The five member squad includes 3 male athletes, only one female and they are accompanied by their coach: 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist, Arshad Nadeem from WAPDA, sprinter, Uzair of Army, former Olympian, Mehboob Ali also from Army, high jumper belonging to WAPDA, Shehroz and sprinter Sahib-e-Asra also of WAPDA.
