Asian Athletics Championships:
Iran’s Taftian into men’s 100m semifinals
The second day of the Asian Athletics Championships saw Iranian sprinter Hassan Taftian progress to the men’s 100m semifinals in Gumi, South Korea.
An Asian gold medalist in 2017, Taftian clocked 10.47 seconds to finish third in Tuesday’s qualification race – behind Oman’s Malham Al Balushi and China’s Wang Shengjie, with fourth-place Malaysian Jonathan Nyepa also advancing to the next round.
Taftian – also a 2023 bronze winner at the competition – will continue his quest for a third Asian medal in today’s semifinal race at the Gumi Civic Stadium.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Ali Amirian and Seyyed Amir Zamanpour secured a place in the men’s 1500 final, thanks to third-place finishes in their respective semifinal races. Amirian crossed the finish line in 3:51.73 minutes, following the host’s Jaeung Lee (3:50.33) and Japanese Kazuto Iizawa (3:50.35), while Zamanpour registered a time of 3:47.97 minutes to finish behind Nanami Arai (3:46.92) of Japan and Indian Yoonus Shah (3:46.96).
The Iranian duo will compete in the final showdown today.
Melika Norouzi was the only Iranian girl in action on Tuesday and settled for a ninth-place finish in the hammer throw final with a 59.18 effort.
China’s Ji Li grabbed the gold with a best throw of 72.98m, with her compatriot Li Jiangyan (69.13) and Ya Chien Yu (64.25) of the Chinese Taipei winning the silver and bronze medals.