At the close of the West Asian Athletics challenge in Dubai
Our national athletics team claims 400m hurdles gold and discus silver
Talented sprinter Abdulnasser steals the show in a thrilling final
“Ahmad Al Mughanni” shines in battle of discus giants and claims silver
Al Hamad praises the high spirit and resolve of Qatari athletics’ ambassadors
Our national athletics team boosted its “haul of precious metal” on the closing day of the second edition of the West Asian Athletics Championships, hosted by the United Arab Emirates in the emirate of Dubai from 12 to 15 December, with Qatar’s team and 12 other Asian teams — represented by 189 athletes — competing over three days with high spirit, honour and resolve to prove their worth and win colour medals. On the closing day, Qatar claimed gold in the 400m hurdles through promising sprinter Jamal Abdulnasser, while the returning giant Ahmad Mohammed Deeb Al Mughanni claimed the silver medal in the discus throw, raising Qatar’s colour medal tally to 5 — 3 gold, a silver and a bronze. Our national team finished fourth in the men’s overall standings, while Iran topped the table with 22 colour medals — 6 gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze — Kuwait’s Blues came third with 12 colour medals including 5 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze, and the UAE came third with 12 colour medals including 3 gold, 4 silver and (bronze)
Promising Abdulnasser conquers the big names
Turning to the closing day’s events at the Dubai Police Officers Club stadium, across 16 track and field events for men and women, promising Qatari sprinter Jamal Abdulnasser overcame the more experienced runners in a thrilling 400m hurdles final, winning the gold medal in a notable time of 51.87 seconds. UAE sprinter Saud Abdulkarim finished runner-up in 51.88 seconds, and Kuwait’s Jassim Waleed took third place in 51.94 seconds. The talented Jamal put in an outstanding performance, fighting bravely throughout the race and clearing the hurdles with great skill and agility, making up for lagging in the final hurdles to secure a hard-fought win in an exciting race, settling the battle for the lead in his favour and getting the better of the rest of the Asian sprinters at the finish line.
Giant Al Mughanni regains his shine
In the meantime, Qatari giant Ahmad Mohammed Deeb Al Mughanni regained his shine, winning the silver medal in the discus throw on the closing day of the West Asian Championships. “Al Mughanni”, back in force on the competition circuit, delivered an exceptional and outstanding performance, recording a good mark of 62.18m, while Iran’s Mohammad Simimi won the gold medal with 62.36m, and his compatriot Mahmoud Simimi Samani came third with 59.00m. Young champion Khalid Al Mughanni failed to qualify in the competition and had to settle for the honour of taking on the leading throwers in the qualifying round.
Francis fourth in the 200m final
Qatari sprinter Samuel Francis, for his part, finished fourth in the 200m final, clocking 21.47 seconds, while Iranian sprinter Reza Jasmini won the gold medal and first place in 21.04 seconds, Omani sprinter Barakat Mubarak Al Harthi finished runner-up in 21.28 seconds, and Iraq’s Mohammed Hassan came third in 21.45 seconds. Promising champion Jabr Khalifa, meanwhile, did not fare well in the pole vault competition and went out of the final early,
having to settle for the honour of taking part
Iran takes the lion’s share
Iran’s athletics team bared its teeth in the West Asian challenge, taking the lion’s share of colour medals for men and women and topping the table with 42 colour medals — 16 gold, 16 silver and 10 bronze — while the UAE came second in the overall men’s and women’s standings with 20 colour medals including 7 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze, and Kuwait came third with 9 colour medals including 5 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze. Iran fielded the largest sports delegation at the West Asian Championships, totalling 60 athletes who had spent a month together in a training camp in Ukraine.
Al Hamad congratulates the champions
Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, the man steering the ship of Qatari athletics and first vice-president of the international federation, made a point of honouring talented sprinter Jamal Abdulnasser and crowning him with 400m hurdles gold, and congratulated Abdulnasser and his teammate, giant Deeb, winner of the discus silver, praising their effort and dedication during the competition all the way to the podium, stressing that achievements always require the resolve of men and the toughness of champions, and that we thank God greatly for the gains made, most importantly the promising new generation and the triumphant return of champion Ahmad Deeb.
Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari: Our young stars have not fallen short
Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari, secretary general of the Qatar Athletics Federation, made a point of following the closing day’s competition at the West Asian Athletics Championships in Dubai, praising what our young champions had achieved in the competition and saying they had not fallen short in performing their duty and making every effort to honour Qatari athletics at the 2012 West Asian Athletics meeting, noting that the championships came as part of plans to prepare and ready our champions for upcoming participation. He closed his remarks by congratulating talented sprinter Jamal Abdulnasser and giant Ahmad Deeb, and also thanked all of Qatari athletics’ ambassadors and the technical, administrative and medical staff at the West Asian Athletics Championships.
Ahmed Al Kamali, President of the UAE Athletics Federation
West Asian championships an important step on the road to development
The UAE team has made a qualitative leap and we are striving for better
Young Gulf champions are our hope and our future in world athletics
Counsellor Ahmed Al Kamali, President of the UAE Athletics Federation and a member of the International Athletics Federation, considered the West Asian Athletics Championships an important step in the project to develop the sport in the countries of the region, praising what the current edition of the championships had achieved in terms of a numerical leap with 12 countries taking part and the good results achieved by the participating teams, noting that the spread of medals among all the West Asian countries gave us a positive sign of the good progress we had all achieved. On the ambitions and hopes of UAE athletics for the future, Al Kamali added: thank God we have made good progress in planning, and our national teams have become able to compete and prove themselves in various championships, stressing that Gulf athletics still needs enormous work and effort to achieve its intended goals. He went on to say we are undoubtedly proud of what the young Gulf champions have achieved on the world stage, represented by the champions of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait who have made a name for themselves internationally and won titles and medals, reflecting a bright image of the sport in our countries, and frankly they are our hope and our future in world athletics. Asked how satisfied he was with the UAE Whites’ results in West Asia, Al Kamali said: thank God we are satisfied with the runner-up spot and winning more than 10 colour medals, which reflected the scale of development the sport has seen in the UAE.
