Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath (born February 3, 1996 ) is an Indian athlete who specializes in middle-distance running .
The 26-year-old from Palakkad in Kerala was contesting in the finals among a field of nine sprinters, where the rest of the athletes were from the UK. He finished the race 2 seconds ahead of runners-up Ben Murphy from Tonbridge (1:50.21) and third-placed Thomas Niner of Brighton & Hove (1:50.50)
Afsal is currently the second-best 800m sprinter of the season in India who achieved his personal best timing (in 2021-22) of 1:47.45 at the Federation Cup in April. He is preceded by Krishan Kumar, who finished first in the same race with a timing of 1:47.43.
Apart from Afsal, another Reliance Foundation athlete Sawan Barwal finished 6th in the Watford meet in the men’s 1500m final. He clocked a timing of 3:49.57. It was his personal best effort so far after he finished in the fourth-place in the Inter-Sevices Championships in September 2021 where he had clocked 3:50.16.
Another Indian athlete in the event, Graceson Jeeva won a gold medal in the 110m hurdles warm-ups, where he clocked a timing of 14.57.
The athletes will be looking forward to continuing their brilliant performances in their next exposure meet at the Loughborough International Competition.
Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath gained his first international experience at the Jogos da Lusofonia 2014 in Goa , where he won the bronze medal in the 1500 meter run in 4:10.60 minutes. In 2019 he took part in the Asian Championships in Doha and took seventh place over 800 meters in 1:54.68 minutes. At the beginning of December he won the silver medal behind Indunil Herath from Sri Lanka at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu in 1:51.25 minutes . In 2023 he came seventh in the 800-meter run at the Asian Championships in Bangkok with a time of 1:48.77 minutes .
In 2018 and 2019, Afsal became Indian champion in the 800 meter run.
He also participated in 2023 Asian Games china.
