Guliyev shocks favourite Van Niekerk in 200m at worlds

Ramil Guliyev won Turkey's first gold medal at the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships here as he shocked title favourite Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa in the men's 200 metres race.

Guliyev on Thursday made a decisive comeback in the final sprint to finish the race in 20.09 seconds, bettering Van Niekerk by two hundreds of a second, reports Xinhua news agency.

This was Guliyev's first title in the world's major events, as his previous best result in the event was a sliver medal at the 2016 European Championships.

"This is not a shock, but it does not feel real. I'm so proud of the title, which means a lot to me," said Guliyev.

Van Niekerk, seen as the next superstar after Usain Bolt, seemed content with his second finish.

Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago also clocked 20.11 but had to settle for the bronze medal on photo finish.

"I always want to bring a medal back home for my mom, so this means a lot to me," commented Richards.

Botswana's Issac Makwala grabbed the spotlight on Wednesday as he qualified for the semi-finals with a solo run after being declared fit for the race. He finished sixth in the final.

"I've had one of the craziest championships journeys ever," he said.

--IANS

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