(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Star sprinter Barakat al Harthi kept the medal hopes alive for the sultanate as he cruised into the 100m semifinals after emerging as the fifth fastest among 35 sprinters in the Asian Games heat in Saturday.
Barakat clocked 10.21 seconds to finish second in heat No 5 behind Saudi Arabia's Abdullah Akbar Mohammed, who won the race in a time of 10.15s.
Barakat, who broke the ten-second barrier for the first time last month, with a time of 9.97, is aiming a podium finish, having won a bronze at the 2010 Asiad.
Chinese Taipei's Yang Chunhan qualified best among the 24 athletes for the semifinals on Sunday. Chunhan advanced in a time 10.13s.
Chinese speedster and gold medal favourite Su Bingtian seemed to have saved his energy for an expected attempt on the continent's 100m record.
Su's 10.27sec was enough to win his heat but only the seventh-fastest time overall, and way off the 9.91 he clocked in June to equal Femi Ogunode's Asian record.
The 28 year old Su's time (9.91) is the fourth quickest worldwide this year. Su shares the Asian record with Nigerian-born Ogunode, who represents Qatar, and pipped him to gold in the last Asian Games final.
Ogunode is not competing in Jakarta, but his younger brother Tosin fired a warning shot with an impressive 10.16 to top his heat, ahead of Rio 2016 semifinalist Ryota Yamagata of Japan.
Beach spikers bow out
The Omani duo of Mazin al Hashmi and Nouh al Jalbubi made its exit in the quarterfinals of the beach volleyball event on Saturday.
The duo went down to the Indonesian pair of Gilang Ramadhan and Danangsyah Pribadi 16-21, 16-21 in 35 minutes.
In shooting, Oman's campaign concluded when Said al Hashmi finished 16th among 21 participants in the 25m rapid fire pistol event. All the six
Omani shooters, including three women, have made early exits in their respective events.
Meanwhile, in sailing, the pair of Musab al Hadi and Waleed al Kindi were placed fifth among nine pairs after race five with 14 net points.
Just a point separates the third-placed team and them.
A total of 15 races are scheduled to decide the medallists with the final races on August 31.
Also keeping hopes alive for Oman is Abdulmalik al Hinai in the Open Laser 4.7 event.
Hinai is placed at an impressive fifth (21 net points) among 23 sailors following the end of fifth race on Saturday. The 12th and final race in the event will also be held on Friday.
Also, the national hockey team, which tasted its firstsuccess at the 2018 Asian Games, with a 2-0 win over Thailand on Friday, will take on Kazakhstan in its fourth match of Pool B. Oman had lost its opener to Bangladesh 1-2 on August 20 before suffering a 10-0 drubbing at the hands of Pakistan two days later.
Under Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman, it bounced back with a win over Thailand and will need to beat the Kazakhs if it hopes to end among the top eight teams.
It concludes its Pool B campaign with a match against heavyweight Malaysia on Tuesday.
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