Imranur reaches Asian Games 100m semifinals despite off day

Bangladesh's fastest man, Imranur Rahman, secured his place in the semifinals of the men's 100 metres at the Asian Games on Thursday, despite failing to come anywhere near his best form on the day.

Competing in the fifth heat at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium, the 33 year old finished fourth among six runners with a time of 10.49 seconds, well short of both his career best of 10.11 seconds and his season best of 10.24 seconds.

The heat also featured South Asia's fastest sprinter, the Maldives' Hassan Said, with Imranur running from lane five throughout the race, remaining in third position for much of the contest before fading late.

Chinese Taipei's Yang Chun-han ultimately overtook him inside the final 20 metres to claim the third automatic qualifying spot from the heat, finishing in 10.38 seconds ahead of Imranur.

With only the top three from each of the six heats guaranteed automatic progression, Imranur instead had to rely on his overall time ranking among the fastest non qualifiers to secure passage through to the next stage.

He ultimately finished 22nd fastest among 38 competitors overall, narrowly sneaking into one of the six additional semi final places reserved for the quickest times outside the automatic qualification spots.

Reflecting on his performance in a social media post, Imranur acknowledged that it was not his best outing but remained focused on the semi-finals.

“Qualified ugly… not my best outing… but we move onto the semi-final tomorrow, need to step up for sure InshaAllah… Thanks for the support,” he wrote.

Malaysia's Muhammad won Imranur's heat outright in 10.17 seconds, with Singapore's Bryann Mark Lewis finishing second in 10.33 seconds, rounding out the automatic qualifiers ahead of the Chinese Taipei sprinter.

Elsewhere in the competition, Thailand's Puripol Boonson made an early statement, winning his own heat in 9.95 seconds, the only sprinter across the entire field to dip under the 10 second barrier on the day.

India also placed two sprinters into the semi finals, with Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh finishing 13th and 16th respectively in the overall standings, clocking 10.36 and 10.38 seconds. Outside of the two Indians and Imranur, no other South Asian athlete advanced beyond the heats.

Imranur's underwhelming performance also continues a recent pattern of struggle at major events, having previously run a season best 10.39 seconds at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games roughly six weeks earlier without managing to progress beyond the heats on that occasion.

Imranur will compete in the semifinals on Friday, looking to improve on his heat time.