Major General Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, President of the Asian Athletics Association and Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, is opening the 17th edition of the Asian Youth Athletics Championships, hosted by the Vietnamese capital Ho Chi Minh City with what is considered a record participation in continental athletics, with the number of countries reaching 40, confirming the clear growth and Asian development in athletics in terms of official interest under Qatari leadership of the sport.
The championship, to be held on the field and track of Vietnam’s National Stadium, will see the participation of more than 500 male and female athletes from the continent’s promising talents, who will compete for 44 gold medals, 22 for the boys and as many for the girls, in one of the largest athletics challenges in Asia. The championship’s organising committee has made its full preparations to present a distinguished edition in terms of technical and organisational detail in service of athletics, in light of the great support the sport has come to find under the leadership of Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, President of the Asian federation, with competition set to start in the morning with the men’s 10,000m race walk final, followed by the women’s final at eight in the morning, with the opening ceremony to take place at four in the afternoon
Technical meeting
The Fairest Hotel hosted the championship’s technical meeting, chaired by the federation’s Secretary General, Nicolas Morris, along with members of the technical committee, the organising committee, technical delegates, officials and the anti-doping official, attended by representatives of the participating countries’ coaches and officials, with Qatar’s team represented by coach Salah Shabouh and official Yasser Al Sayyadi
Valued Qatari efforts
Nicolas Morris, Secretary General of the Asian federation, welcomed the participants at the technical meeting at the start of his speech, on behalf of Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, President of the Asian federation, wishing success to the continent’s promising talents amid the great development the sport is witnessing under Qatari leadership of the continent, praising the efforts of the federation’s president in building a strong base that will achieve near and long-term achievements for the continent in athletics at all international and Olympic levels.
Qatar’s champions take on the challenge
Qatari athletics is taking part in the major youth challenge with a delegation headed by Mohammed Jassim Al Kuwari, Secretary General of the federation, comprising a group of promising talents, only two of whom are of youth age while the rest are in the junior category, as one of the signs of the Qatari building of a coming generation defending the ambitions of Qatari athletics in the near and long term, representing the continuity of the generations of Qatari athletics, led by one of the champions of the future, Mohanad Khamis, regional champion in the 3000m steeplechase for his category and Asian junior champion, and Moaz Ibrahim, regional champion in the discus and shot put, and Abdulrahman Al Khater in the 100m and 200m, and Abdullah Al Rubaie in the decathlon, and Saud Al Humaidi in the 200m, and Idris Youssef Moussa in the 800m and 1500m, and Hamdi Al Amin in the high jump, and Abdulrahman Khusaif in the hammer throw. The delegation also includes Salah Shabouh, head coach, and Yasser Al Sayyadi, and Ali Fadaaq, and Abdi Bile, events coach, and Ivica Jaklic, jumps coach, and Khalid Al Amri, team manager, and Mohammed Bashir, physiotherapist.
The first step in the challenge
Qatar’s champions begin their participation in the morning session with the heats, and in the evening Abdulrahman Khusaif will contest the hammer throw final, as the first step for Qatar’s promising talents towards the Asian podium, at a time when our Qatari champion Moaz Ibrahim will arrive today to take part in the discus and shot put events, in addition to the arrival of another promising high jump champion, Hamdi Al Amin, coming from Poland, where he is holding a training camp in preparation for the Asian challenge and then the World Youth Championships in Poland at the end of this month.
Schedule of the Asian Youth Championships in Vietnam
The championship schedule includes the following: Day one – 100m / heats, 10,000m final / decathlon 100m / 1500m heats / decathlon long jump / 100m first heat / decathlon shot put / decathlon high jump / pole vault final / hammer / 100m semi-final / 400m semi-final / decathlon 400m / Day two 10,000m race walk final / decathlon 110m hurdles / discus first heat / decathlon pole vault / 110m hurdles first heat / shot put final / 400m final / 1500m final / long jump final / 100m final / Day three / javelin final / triple jump final / 400m hurdles final / 200m final / 5000m final / 4x400m relay final .
Abdulhakim Al-Omari takes part on the championship’s technical committee
Abdulhakim Al-Omari, head of the technical committee at the Qatar Athletics Federation and member of the Asian federation’s technical committee, considered the 17th edition of the Asian Youth Athletics Championships a great opportunity for the continent’s youth to build on a solid foundation, pointing out that the efforts of Major General Dahlan sparked competition at the grassroots level across the continent through several plans and programmes announced by Al Hamad previously and currently being implemented under his supervision and with great commitment from the continent’s countries, given the number of countries currently taking part in Vietnam and the number of male and female athletes, which has given the championship a strength that bodes well for a distinguished level for Asia in the future
Al Amri, who is taking part on the championship’s technical committee, added that the level of the championship will be strong, wishing success to Qatar’s promising champions and the boosting of Qatari athletics’ successes on the continent.
