BIRMINGHAM: Shajar Abbas’ personal best of fourth place in his heat wasn’t good enough. On Tuesday, the 22-year-old Pakistani sprinter was cruelly eliminated from the men’s 100-meter semifinal event at the Commonwealth Games.
At the Alexander Stadium, Shajar ran in heat eight and finished in 10.38 seconds, trailing Jamaica’s Conroy Jones (10.28), Scotland’s Adam Thomas (10.30), and Trinidad and Tobago’s Eric Harrison Jr. (10.37).
However, due to a peculiarity in the qualifying standards, Shajar was forced to watch Jake Doran of Australia, who finished 0.01 seconds later than him, go to the semi-finals.
The top two finishers from each of the 10 heats, along with the seven quickest losers, made up the 27-man semi-final lineup, including Doran, who placed among the top two in the second heat.
In other words, Harrison and Buntin Nadale of St. Kitts and Nevis, who both finished in 10.37, advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals ahead of Shajar, who was 27th overall among 70 sprinters.
