Zahir Raihan falls on track

Bangladeshi sprinter Zahir Raihan failed to finish his 400-metre sprint in the final of the South Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday.

Raihan, who performed brilliantly in the IAAF World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya last year making it to the semifinals of 400-metre sprint, left the track after a muscle strain during the final yesterday.

“Zahir's performance was not that good in the heat as he took 50 seconds to complete the race to qualify for the final,” Bangladesh Athletics Federation joint secretary Farid Khan Chowdhury said yesterday. “In the final he fell down after 300 metres.”

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh girls' team won a bronze medal in the 4x100-metre relay after finishing their race in 49.82 seconds.

Sri Lanka and India won the gold and the silver respectively.