Nigeria’s Divine Oduduru shook off the uncertainty on whether he would compete at the ongoing World Championships in Doha, finishing 4th in his 200m heat to qualify for the semifinals.
Oduduru who was initially disqualified for missing the 100m after being confirmed in the final entry list, lodged an appeal and had it upheld on Sunday by the IAAF.
Coming up against the defending Champion, Ramil Guliyev of Turkey and Briton Adam Gemili, he had to run very well to stand a chance of qualifying for the next round.
Gemili took the initiative in that heat, running a very good first 100m from lane 7 and then charging away for the win in a Season’s Best (SB) time of 20.06s ahead of Guliyev who clocked 20.27s to finish 2nd. The last automatic spot went to Dutch athlete Taymir Burnet who out dipped Oduduru in 20.37s to the Nigerian’s 20.40s.
Oduduru with 20.40s, went through to the semis as one of the three fastest losers from the heats, and he will hope for a much better outing in that round.
