FOR NAURAJ

At the Rio Olympics last year, Nauraj only missed out on qualifying for the final on countback but this time 16 jumpers cleared 2.29m to advance to the next height of 2.31m, the automatic qualifying mark for the final.

The list of finalists is headed by World No 1 Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and includes 2013 world champion Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine.

Among those eliminated was China's Zhang Guowei, silver medallist at the 2015 world meet, who cleared only 2.22m.

With his maiden World Championship campaign over, Nauraj now returns home for the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games where he will bid for a third consecutive gold medal.

Nauraj has had a good year so far after winning four titles in Australia, Singapore and Spain prior to arriving in London.

He is a strong favourite at the Sea Games where his only rival for gold is compatriot Lee Hup Wei, a three-time Sea Games gold medallist.