OMAN AT GAMES: Barakat al Harthi fails to advance

Date

8/15/2016 2:10:29 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)

It took Oman's sprint star Barakat al Harthi 10.22 seconds to finish third in the first-round heat of the blue riband 100m race at the Rio Olympics on Saturday.

And it took a few more minutes to realise that his campaign has come to an end, despite clocking a decent timing.

Former world-record holder Justin Gatlin of the US clocked 10.01s to emerge as the fastest among the 69 athletes who competed in the eight heats, while defending champion and favourite Usain Bolt of Jamaica made his grand Olympic entry with an easy victory as he coasted across the line in 10.07s.

Barakat ran along with Jamaican Yohan Blake, who won the heat in 10.11s. The cut-off for the top 24 to make it to the semifinals was 10.20s, with four athletes clocking the same time to end Barakat's hopes for a maiden semis spot.

Barakat shared the same time with Canada's Akeem Haynes and The Netherlands' Churandy Martina.

Mazoon bows out

Earlier, Mazoon al Alawi, Oman's only woman sprinter at the Rio Olympics, came up with a disappointing time of 12.43s in the first-round heat on Saturday to bow out of the women's 100m event.

Debutant Mazoon produced an encouraging run in her preliminary heat on Friday as she clocked 12.30s to advance to the first round.

She finished third in her preliminary heat, edged by Cook Island's Patricia Taea in a photo finish. Suriname's Sunayna Wahi had won the race in 12.09s.

However, Mazoon faltered in the first round to finish last in her heat that was won by Jamaica's Elaine Thompson in a time of 11.21s.

The 19 year old Omani girl's display was way below her career-best time of 12.04s, which she had clocked at an Asian meet in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in June this year.

There were a total of 64 athletes in the eight first-round heats and favourite Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica came with the best time of 10.96s. Mazoon's timing meant she finished 62nd among the 64 participants.

The top 24 sprinters advanced to the semifinals. Meanwhile, Oman's shooter Hamed al Khatri will begin his campaign in the men's 50m rifle 3 position on Sunday. Elsewhere, Oman's Shuaib al Zadjali and Khalifa al Makhmari are part of a large team of anti-doping officials in Rio de Janeiro.

Zadjali has been nominated for the third successive Olympics since 2008, while for Makhmari, it will be his first Games. Zadjali was also an official at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010.

Both Makhmari and Zadjali had also officiated at the successive Asian Games since the Doha Asiad in Qatar in 2006.

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