Bangladesh Navy runner Jahir Rayhan celebrates after winning silver in the men’s 400-metre event of the 11th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran on Sunday.– Courtesy photo

Bangladesh runner Jahir Rayhan bagged silver medal in the men’s 400-metre event of the 11th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2024 in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday.

The current national champion of this event, Jahir, clocked 48.10 seconds, which is 0.15 seconds more than the gold medallist Sajad Aghaei of Iran, when six athletes ran in the final of this event.

Yasir Ali Al-Saadi (48.40) of Iraq, Tarassov Yefim (48.40) of Kazakhstan, Merhe Mortada (49.16) of Lebanon, and Arash Sayyari (49.61) of Iran were placed third to sixth, respectively.

The 22-year-old Jahir qualified for the final of this event by clocking 48.84 seconds—the fastest among 10 runners in two heats – to top among five runners in his individual heat-one on Saturday.

This was the second time that any Bangladeshi runner won a medal at the Asian stage after the country’s current fastest man, Imranur Rahman, bagged gold in the men’s 60-metre sprint in Kazakhstan last year.

Meanwhile, Imranur was set to defend his title after he reached final of the men’s 60-metre event by clocking 6.60 seconds to place second in the heat-one of the semi-final.

Earlier, Imranur reached in semi-final of the event by clocking 6.62 seconds in his individual heat-three. The final will take place today.