Rohan Kamble gave the Indian contingent a reason to smile by making it to the men’s 400m hurdles semi-finals at the World Athletics U-20 Championships here on Thursday.

On a day when World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe met and encouraged the Indian team, Kamble booked a berth in the semi-finals by finishing fourth in the last of the five heats.

“This is what you need at the start of the championship. Congratulations to your 4x400m mixed relay team, fantastic performance in the heats as well,” Coe said, referring to the relay team’s bronze medal earned on Wednesday.

Kamble clocked 55.00 seconds when all he needed to do was finish the race after Saad Hinti (Morocco) did not start and Amar Eded (Qatar) was disqualified for a false start. The other Indian in the fray, Hardeep Kumar, hit a hurdle in the opening heats and was credited with a time of 1:12.80.

Earlier, India’s Anu Kumar missed out on a berth in the men’s 800m semi-finals. He clocked 1:50.26 to finish fourth in his opening round heats, just over a second slower than his personal best time, clocked in the Federation Cup in Patiala on March 18.

Pooja warmed up for the women’s 1,500m heats to be run on Friday though she did not make it to the women’s 800m semi-finals.

She clocked the 16th fastest time in the first round heats, finishing sixth in 2:10.66. She has a personal time of 2:06.22 clocked in September 2019.

Amandeep Singh Dhaliwal, who put the shot over 17.92m on Wednesday to qualify for the men’s final, fouled his first two attempts and managed a disappointing 17.08m on his third attempt to finish 12th.

On Friday, Kunwar Ajai Raj Singh Rana will need to register a personal best to get a podium finish in the men’s javelin throw while Shaili Singh will seek qualification for the women’s long jump final. Pooja will bid for a berth in the 1,500m final.