Bangladesh sprinters Jahir Rayhan and Abu Taleb have been hospitalised after falling ill due to high altitude during their respective heats in the men's 400metre events at the Dasharath Rangasala Stadium in Kathmandu on Thursday (Dec 5).
Jahir, who finished second in the first heat with 48.20s timing, and Taleb, who placed fourth in the second heat with 50.20s, have been ruled out from the final due to illness.
The athletes were struggling to breathe after the heat and were taken to the nearest Blue Cross hospital. The medical officer of emergency, Dr Pawan Rawal declared that the two don’t have enough pulse rate to run for the final, that took place within one hour and a half after they had been taken to hospital.
"They can't play now. They have a higher pulse rate (100+) than what it should be for an athlete (around 78). It will increase more if they run again." said the emergency doctor, reports Bangladeshi media.
Jahir was seen urging the athletic coach Abdullah Hel Kafi to get him back to the track with a mask on the hospital bed. Kafi was crying, he said, "It's very unfortunate for us. They couldn’t even try in the final."
Jahir, who raced to the semifinals of the same event in the World U-18 Championships in Kenya in 2017, broke a 32-year-old record in the national athletics Championship early this year with 46.86s timing.
The athletics team had arrived in Kathmandu only two days before their events started while the Sri Lankan team arrived on November 29. Many athletes in other sports including volleyball, swimming, football, shooting etc reported to have struggled to adapt with the high altitude in the first few days.
A K Sarkar, the deputy chef de mission and member secretary of BOA's training committee, said, "It is becoming difficult for the athletes to adjust with the altitude of Nepal which is 1400m above the sea level. We recommended all federations to send their athletes earlier but it is a bit more expensive and the venues were not also available including the tracks of Dasharath Stadium."
