Sri Lankan sprinter Aruna Darshana has been disqualified from the Men’s 400m semi-final at the Paris Olympics. Darshana, who finished fifth in his race with a personal best of 44.75 seconds, faced disqualification for a lane infringement.

The race, held at 11:12 p.m. IST, saw competitors from Argentina, South Africa, Italy, Zambia, the United States, Botswana, and Grenada. Despite his strong performance, Darshana did not advance to the finals, which require the top two athletes from each semi-final heat and the next two fastest athletes overall to qualify.

Darshana, 25, had previously qualified for the semi-finals by finishing third in his heat with a time of 44.99 seconds, another personal best. He had recently secured first place in the Men’s 400m at the 2nd Belt and Road Invitational Athletics Championship in China.