BRUNEI Darussalam’s sprinter Mohd Fakhri bin Ismail finished in seventh place in the 100m event after posting a time of 10.83s at the 18th Asian Games at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium yesterday.
The national athlete was handed a tough draw alongside Asian record co-holder Su Bingtian and Malaysia’s hope Jonathan Nyepa in Heat 4, both of whom eventually took the top two spots and automatic berths into the semi-finals.
Mohd Fakhri, who needed to get close to his personal best of 10.59s to secure qualification into the next round, was placed 28th overall out of 35 entries.
Fakhri has earlier acknowledged that Bingtian’s time of sub-10 seconds would have easily won him a place in the Olympic final and the Chinese edged a step closer towards an Asian Games dream after topping the heat with 10.27s.
Bingtian, the silver medallist from the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, came into the tournament with form after setting the Asian record with a time of 9.91s at the IAAF World Challenge in Madrid before equalling the mark at Meeting de Paris.
The Chinese star is joined by Malaysia’s Jonathan Nyepa, one of the top short-distance specialists in the country, in second place with a time of 10.43s.
Chinese Taipei’s Asian Championships winner Chunhan Yang was the fastest man in the heats after clocking a time of 10.13s followed by Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Abkar Mohammed and Qatar’s Tosin Ogunode in second and third place, respectively in the overall classification.
Malaysia’s SEA Games reigning champion Khairul Hafiz Jantan also advanced with a time of 10.47s and so did Indonesia’s multiple SEA Games medallist Yaspi Boby who recorded 10.62s.
Meanwhile, Brunei Darussalam sprinter Muhammad Noor Firdaus Ar-Rasyid bin Haji Mohd Idris will compete in the 200m event on Tuesday.
