Qatar’s Mutaz Essa sprang a major surprise in the indoor high jump when he smashed the Qatari youth and men’s high jump record during his training camp in Sweden in preparation for the fourth Asian Indoor Championships, to be held in Tehran from 22-25 February 2010, and for the
World Indoor Championships, to be held in Doha in March 2010, clearing a height of 2.25 m and thereby breaking the previous Qatari record set by jumper Rashed Ahmed Al Manai in Macau at 2.24 m, for which he won the gold medal at the 2007 Asian Games in Macau. Meanwhile jumper Rashed Al Manai achieved a height of 2.18 m at the same championship after returning to training following the injury that had kept him off the track for several months, and both jumpers train under the supervision of Swedish coach Stanislav. It is worth noting that jumper Mutaz is one of the promising young Qataris expected to have a bright future in international and world athletics alongside his fellow jumper Rashed Ahmed Al Manai.
