Ghana’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu produced a confident run to place second in Heat 7 of the men’s 100m at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.

The young sprinter clocked 10.09s with a reaction time of 0.188s, earning an automatic qualification spot for the semi-finals.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine, one of the continent’s most experienced sprinters, won the heat in 10.02s, while Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala followed in 10.12s to take the third automatic qualifying slot.

Saminu’s performance saw him finish ahead of strong contenders including Elvis Afrifa of the Netherlands (10.15s), China’s Xinrui Deng (10.23s) and Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme (10.24s).

Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown placed seventh in 10.37s, while Iraq’s Saif Al RamMahi completed the race in 10.58s.

The result confirms Saminu’s progression to Sunday’s semi-finals, keeping Ghana’s hopes alive in the men’s 100m following Benjamin Azamati’s sixth-place finish earlier in Heat 5.