Birmingham
DOHA: Qatar’s star high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim added another feat to his fine run in the season, claiming a silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at Arena in Birmingham, yesterday.
It was a close fight between Barshim and rival Danil Lysenko who outclassed their counterparts in the competition. Both the world’s best high-jumpers cleared 2.20, 2.25, 2.29, 2.33 in their respective first attempts while the other participants struggled.
Barshim who withdrew from the recent Athlone Grand Prix, looked very impressive as he competed with full of confidence while Russian athlete Lysenko, who competed as an authorised neutral athlete, was equally impressive as both cleared the first four targets with ease.
But the 2.36 mark proved a tough one for both the fierce competitors with double Olympic medallist, Barshim failing to cross the mark in the three attempts, which confined him to second place. Lysenko, who failed in the first two attempts, cleared the 2.36 mark in his final chance to win the gold medal.
Germany’s Mateusz Przybylko claimed third position with his jump of 2.29 in his second attempt while Erik Kynard of the US finished fourth after clearing the same height in his third attempt. Both failed to clear the 2.33 hurdle.
Bednarek Sylwester of Poland failed to leap past 2.25 after clearing the first two hurdles and finished on fifth position.
Meanwhile, Qatar can expect more medals at the world with Asian champion and the World’s No. 2 in indoor 400m, Abdalelah Haroun; and promising runner Tusi Ognude (60m) will also be taking part in the event.
Both will be seen in action today with the qualifiers for 60m and 400m for men (first round and semi-finals) scheduled on the second day of the championships.
