Animesh Kujur qualified as the second fastest athlete for the 200m final of the Asian Athletics Championships to be held on the last day of the competition on Saturday and is looking in good shape to finish on the podium.The 200m national record holder crossed the finish line in 20.81 seconds in the second semifinal behind Japan’s Towa Uzawa, who came first with a timing of 20.67 seconds.Uzawa had competed in 200m at the Paris Olympics last year and is the defending champion here having won the gold with a time of 20.23 seconds. He also has a season best of 20.13 seconds and will be the man to beat on Saturday.As for Kujur, his timing in the semifinals wasn’t near his PB and NR of 20.40 seconds — achieved during the Federation Cup in Kochi early this year — but one needs to understand that he took his foot off the gas during the last part of the race and still came second quite comfortably. This was after he also finished second in the opening heats with a timing of 20.98 seconds.Speaking of his runs on Friday, Martin Owens, his coach at Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre (HPC) at Kalinga Stadium, sounded impressed with the way he managed the two races.“The first round was just about getting through, and I just told him to qualify, all you have to do is be in the first three. We just get through being a competitor. When that guy cruised past him, he wanted to respond. And then a little sound in his head said, ‘Ease off. You don’t have to work so hard on this one’,” Owens told TOI.“But championship racing is about getting faster through the rounds, so hopefully we’ll get a faster run in the final. In the semis though, he worked the bend fairly hard, switched off 50 metres out. (He) looked better when he switched off than when he was working. But that’s just Animesh looking forward to the final.”Taking into account the two races on Friday, it was his ninth sub-21 seconds run in the year so far. Only during the final of the Indian Open Athletics meeting in Chennai did he have a timing of 21.14 seconds and coach Martins is certain that his pupil will not let him down on the day.“It’s his first major international championships. So whatever he does, he’s done himself proud to get to the final and work on. I’m sure he’ll do his best. He always does his best. Never lets us down,” the coach added.The coach, however, isn’t thinking about whether Kujur will break any records or not. He just wants him “to step off that track with no regrets”.