Al Sadd Sports Club opened the 2011-2012 track and field season by winning both the Qatar Cup for Bantams and the Qatar Cup for Juniors in indoor athletics, held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9-11 January 2012, on the indoor track at the Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence, in the presence of the chairman and members of the board of the Qatar Athletics Federation, the clubs’ administrative and technical staff, and a crowd of athletics fans.
In the Qatar Cup for Bantams indoor championship, Al Sadd swept the Qatari clubs, amassing 133 points for its players — double the tally of the runner-up, Al Rayyan, who collected 42 points, while Al Jaish finished third with 40 points in its first-ever appearance in a track and field championship. During the indoor bantams championship, two new Qatari indoor records were set: Al Sadd’s Abduljalil Ahmed Al Manai broke the Qatari record held by his clubmate Omar Abdullah Al Jassim of 9.80 seconds, cutting the time down to 9.46 seconds, while Al Rayyan’s Yaqoub Salem Al Ahmed broke the Qatari record in the long jump held by Al Sadd’s Saad Rashed Al Manai, setting a new national mark of 4.80 m.
In the Qatar Cup for Juniors indoor athletics championship, Al Sadd continued its dominance over Qatari clubs, with its players scoring double the tally of the runner-up, Al Gharafa, who collected 63 points, while Al Rayyan finished third with 44 points. During the juniors’ indoor championship, four Qatari national records were broken, three of them by Al Sadd players, as follows:
• A new Qatari record in the 400 m was set by Al Sadd’s Mubarak Jamal Al Fayyad with a time of 52.01 seconds, breaking the previous record of 52.88 seconds held by his clubmate Abdulrahman Abdullah Anbar.
• A new Qatari record in the pole vault was set by Al Sadd’s Rashed Saqr Al Ali with a height of 3.80 m, breaking the previous Qatari record of 3.60 m held by Al Ahli’s Mohammed Ahmed Rashed Al Manai.
• A new Qatari record in the triple jump was set by Al Sadd’s Abdulrahman Mohammed Al Ahmed with a distance of 12.78 m, breaking the previous record of 12.53 m held by Qatar SC’s Abdulaziz Yousef.
• The fourth Qatari record was set by Al Gharafa’s Ashraf Amjad Mohammed in the shot put with a distance of 16.16 m, breaking the previous record of 14.52 m held by Al Ahli’s Mohammed Ahmed Al Manai.
The closing ceremony of the Qatar Cup for Bantams and Juniors was attended by the chairman of the Qatar Athletics Federation and Ms Maryam Abdullah Al Ishaq, with medals and trophies presented to the players and clubs finishing in the top three places by Mr Issa Abdullah Al Harami – assistant secretary-general – the championship’s technical supervisor.
