Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, President of the Asian and Qatari federations and Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) opened the 17th edition of the Asian Youth Athletics Championships in the Vietnamese capital city Ho Chi Minh City amid an impressive turnout of presidents of Asian athletics federations and Vietnamese sports officials from the Vietnamese Sports Authority and the Vietnam Athletics Federation, with representatives of forty countries taking part in the championship for the first time in the continent’s history with a participation of this scale, represented by more than 500 male and female athletes in this category gathering for the first time to compete for 44 gold medals distributed at a rate of 22 for the youth category and the same for the girls’ category.
The Independence Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City saw a grand ceremony organised by the supreme committee and broadcast live by three Vietnamese TV channels, in one of the finest displays of spreading the culture of the sport on the continent, the approach that Dahlan Al Hamad has followed since taking over the presidency of the continent’s athletics body.
A spectacular ceremony
The opening ceremony featured a parade of the countries taking part in the championship, in addition to some simple performances, and the chairperson of the championship’s organising committee, from host country Vietnam, gave a speech praising the great Asian gathering and crediting it to Dahlan Al Hamad’s keenness to develop the sport by opening the door for youth-category athletes to develop further through various programmes that boost the spread of the sport
Al Hamad addresses the continent’s aspirations
Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, President of the Asian Athletics Association, gave a speech in which he addressed the continent’s youth with aspirations of building a strong generation carrying the ambitions of athletics on the world and Olympic tracks in the near and long term, and Al Hamad said that the championship, given its great scale, represents a valuable opportunity for a new generation that must continue on the path of development for sporting glory in athletics for the largest continent in the world in terms of human resources.
The president of the Asian federation thanked the government of Vietnam for hosting the championship in its largest sporting gathering, and also gave special thanks to the Vietnam federation for its great effort in organising the championship in support of the sport’s journey, and also praised the great work being done by the organising committee of volunteers and staff and the media, which is relied upon greatly to spread the culture of the sport on the continent in its broadest sense.
And as soon as Al Hamad mentioned the volunteers in the sport, the stadium erupted in applause, and Al Hamad wished success to the continent’s champions who represent the future of the sport , hoping that the competition would result in the best successes for the Asian continent.
Al Hamad then declared the start of the Asian competition between the boys and girls in athletics, marking the beginning of the challenge and the pursuit of the best achievements in a year in which the International Association of Athletics Federations and the continental federations are dedicating the greatest amount of competition to the youth category
