Doha, Sept 28:
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand’s World Championships campaign ended in disappointment as she crashed out in the first round while 400m hurdler M P Jabir made an exit in the semifinals here today.
Dutee clocked 11.48 seconds — one of her worst timings this season — in the women’s 100m heats to finish seventh in her heat and 37th overall among 47 competitors.
Running in the outermost lane, Jabir finished fifth in men’s 400m hurdles semifinals heat number 3 and 16th overall among 24 runners with a time of 49.71 seconds. The top two finishers in each of the three semifinal heats and the next two fastest runners qualify for the finals.
Reigning world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway led the runners into the finals with a timing of 48.28 seconds.
Jabir had qualified for the semifinals with a timing of 49.62 seconds on Friday but he could not improve upon it on Saturday. He has a personal best of 49.13 which he had clocked this year.
For the 23-year-old Dutee, who ran in the innermost lane, it was another heartbreak as she had come in this championship with the hope of at least reaching the semifinals but it was not to be.
Dutee’s timing was in stark contrast with those of the likes of 2012 Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica and last edition silver medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast, who led the heat timings with 10.80 and 10.85 seconds respectively.
This showed how much the Indians are lagging behind as compared to the best in the world. (PTI)