Nagoya: Animesh Kujur bounced back from the disappointment of failing to make the Men’s 100m final by securing his place in the 200m final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 on Saturday.
On a wet evening and a rain-soaked track, Odisha’s ace sprinter clocked 20.81 seconds to finish second in the third semifinal and earn an automatic qualification for the eight-man final.
The conditions weren’t easy, but Thailand’s Puripol Boonson could not be bothered less. He scorched the track to clock 20.10 seconds in the semifinal, thereby shattering the Asian Games record. Boonson earlier won the Men’s 100m gold.
Animesh was well below his personal best of 20.32, which is a National record.
Having missed out on the chance to grab a medal in 100m, the 23-year-old Kujur will go all out in the 200m final, scheduled for Sunday at 4.05 pm IST.
But Kujur will have his task cut out in a bid to ensure a podium finish. Of the eight sprinters who qualified for the 100m final, Kujur’s timing of 20.81 was the slowest.
He will be competing against Thai sensation Boonson, Japan’s Soshi Mizukubo, who qualified second-fastest in 20.37, China’s Youwen Huang (20.42), Chinese Taipei’s Wu-yen-ming Ke (20.71), Hong Kong’s King Wai Yip (20.74), Malaysia’s Danish Muhammad (20.76) and Oman’s Ali Al Balushi (20.78).