TEHRAN – Iranian sprinters Hamideh Esmaeilnezhad and Hassan Taftian secured their places in the semifinals round of the 100m in the 2022 Asian Games.

Esmaeilnezhad crossed the line with a time of 11.57 seconds in the women’s 100m Heat 3 behind Chinese athlete Yongli Wei who clocked 11.35 seconds.

Taftian also qualified for the semifinals in the men’s 100m with a time of 10.42 seconds in Heat 3. Malaysian Azeem Bin Mohd Fahmi Muhammad came of Malaysia came first in the heat with 10.28 seconds.

Iranian female athlete Farzaneh Fasihi failed to advance to the semifinals, finishing fourth in Heat 2 with 11.70 seconds.

The semifinals and final rounds will be held on Saturday.

With more than 12,000 competitors from 45 nations and territories, the 2022 Asian Games has more participants than the Olympics.

Iran has sent 289 male and female athletes to the Games in 34 sports events.