ALI Khamis qualified for the World Junior Athletics Championship in Barcelona next month.

The young Bahraini athlete secured his berth in the upcoming international event after winning the men's 400m hurdles qualifying race during the 15th Asian Championship, which concluded in Sri Lanka recently.

Clocking 52.67 seconds, Ali also improved on his personal record of 53.77 seconds and became the sixth Bahraini to compete at the World Championship.

The remaining five include four to participate in the 100mX4 relay team besides Ali Omar Al Dossary, who is due to take part in the men's 100m final.

Ali and three other Bahraini athletes travelled to Colombo for the Asian Championship. They were Hussain Ashoor, Ahmed Al Shawoosh and Maryam Al Ansari.

Bahrain's coach Tareq Kassai said he was pleased with the Bahraini athletes' results and their overall progress made during the Asian Championship.

He said their performances have been improving since their participation at the GCC Championship organised two months ago in Kuwait, which was followed by the 15th Arab Championship in Amman last month.