Jonathan, Nur Afrina advance to 200m semis at Asian Athletics Championships

BANGKOK: National athletes Jonathan Nyepa and Nur Afrina Batrisyia Mohamad Rizal qualified for the men’s and women’s 200-metre (m) semi-finals at the 2023 Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) at the Suphachalasai National Stadium here today.
 
Jonathan booked his slot in the semi-finals when he finished fourth in the fourth heat with a time of 21.79 seconds (s), thus being among the top 24 runners.
 
Meanwhile, the country’s young sprint star, Nur Afrina Batrisyia, advanced to the semi-finals after finishing third in her heat with a time of 24.29s.
 
The semi-finals of the men’s 200m will be held at 7.05pm (Malaysian time) and the women’s 200m at 6.45pm (Malaysian time) today.
 
Jonathan will start in the third semi-final heat, which will also be joined by Towa Uzawan of Japan and Yang Chun Han from Chinese Taipei, who clocked 20:73s and 20:87s, respectively, in the first heat.
 
In addition, the national men’s 4×400m quartet qualified for the final, which will be held at 7.45pm (Malaysian time) on Sunday.
 
The quartet made up of the 2023 SEA Games champions, Umar Osman, Abdul Wafiy Roslan, Muhammad Firdaus Mohamad Zemi, and Ruslem Zikry Putra Roseli, recorded a time of 3:08:62s.
 
This evening, the country’s young athletes, Wan Muhammad Fazri Wan Zahari and Avinashwer Austin Murugan, will compete in the first heat of the men’s 800m event.
 
Apart from them, national athlete Savinder Kaur Joginder Singh will compete in the women’s 800m first heat. – BERNAMA