Tokyo Olympics: MP Jabir finishes seventh in Men's 400m Hurdles Heat 5, 33rd overall

India's MP Jabir finished seventh in his Heat of Men's 400m Hurdles Round 1 at the Tokyo Olympics. Jabir was drawn in Heat 5 and recorded a time of 50.77, falling way behind his own personal best and season's best. He was ranked 33rd out of the 36 athletes that took part in the Heats today.

The 25-year-old from Kerala was seeded alongside six other athletes in Heat 5 of Men's 400m Hurdles on the very first day of Athletics at the Tokyo Olympics. The third-fastest man in the history of the competition Rai Benjamin from USA won the Heat comfortably with a time of 48.60. He was followed by Rasmus Magi of Estonia in second and Sokwakhana Zazini of South Africa in third.

MP Jabir, ranked 27th in the world in the event has a personal best timing of 49.13. However, his best race this season was clocked at 49.78. He's the first Indian male athlete to participate in 400m Hurdles at the Olympics. Jabir was racing alongside athletes ranked second and eighth in the world in USA's Rai Benjamin and Estonia's Rasmus Magi.

Since the beginning, Jabir failed to take control of the race and much more was expected of him.

The top four finishers in each Heat and four fastest go through to the next round.

More updates to follow.