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Thursday November 12, 2009

Robani qualifies for 110m hurdles final after clocking season’s best

By AFTAR SINGH

KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Robani Hassan clocked a season best 14.01 to qualify for the final of the men’s 110m hurdles in the Asian Track and Field (ATF) Championships in Guangzhou, China, yesterday.

The 26-year-old Selangor hurdler came in third behind former Olympic and world champion Liu Xiang of China (13.82) and Thailand’s Jamras Rittidet (13.97) in the first semi-final at the Guangdong Olympic Stadium.

Robani: Finished third in the first semi-final of the ATF Championships.

Robani, the 2005 Manila SEA Games gold medallist, said in a telephone interview that he was delighted to have clocked a good time.

“I am also happy to have run against Liu Xiang. I hope to go below 14 seconds in the final tomorrow (today),” said Robani, who has a personal best of 13.95.

Meanwhile, middle distance runner M. Vadivellan, could only finish 10th (3:55.32) in the men’s 1,500m final yesterday.

In the women’s 1,500m final, K. Ganthimathi clocked 4:41.35 to finish ninth out of 11 runners.

Tan Song Hwa also failed to do well in the women’s hammer final. The Pahang lass finished last among the seven participants with a throw of 54.19m, which was way off her national record of 55.67m.

There was more disappointment when sprinters Mohd Noor Imran and Norjannah Hafiszah Jamaludin failed to qualify for the men’s and women’s 100m finals respectively in the blue riband event.

Mohd Noor clocked a poor 10.76 to finish sixth in the second semi-finals while Penangite Norjannah, who has a personal best of 11.86, also finished sixth in 12.00 in the first semi-finals.

Nine Malaysians will be in action today and the focus will be on pole vaulter Roslinda Samsu, who will be defending the gold medal she won in Jordan two years ago.

Eight athletes will compete in the pole vault event and Roslinda’s strongest challengers are likely to be China’s Li Caixia and Wu Sha.

The other Malaysians competing today are Teoh Boon Lim and Lo Choon Sieng (20km walk), Mohd Noor (men’s 200m), Norjannah and Nurul Siti Abdul Kadir (women’s 200m), Vadivellan and Mohd Jironi Riduan (men’s 800m) and Melinder Kaur (3,000m steeplechase).

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