Our Olympic and world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim achieved complete superiority at the Sweden athletics meeting, setting one of his best marks of the new 2016 season with 2.36m in the high jump competition, evidence of his readiness and ability to make a positive impact at the Asian Indoor Championships due to take place next week in Doha. Golden boy Barshim had opened his indoor season with progressive improvement, having previously recorded 2.33m and 2.29m.
General Al Hamad commends him
HE Major General Dahlan Al Hamad, president of the Qatari and Asian federations and vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, expressed his happiness at what our world champion Mutaz Barshim continues to achieve, saying that excellence has always been this champion’s hallmark, and that his goal has always been to keep improving and reach his best marks. He said Barshim’s start to this season was very satisfying and augured well for reaching the best results, especially since the champion, like all our national team’s champions, seeks to deliver his best performance and achieve the finest results to honour Qatari athletics in any championship or meeting. He expressed hope that our champion would succeed at the upcoming Asian event in Doha, since he and his teammates are capable of honouring Qatari sport at the most important events at home or abroad, affirming that the Asian Championships would serve as a positive dress rehearsal for our champions ahead of the World Championships in America.
Khalifa: a promising start
For his part, Khalifa Abdulmalik, director of the national teams and executive director of the Athletics Federation, considered our Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim’s achievement at the Sweden meeting a promising start, confirming that our world champion Barshim is heading in the right direction towards achieving his set goals, starting with the Asian Championships and the World Championships in America and the Rio 2016 Olympics, wishing him and the rest of our national team’s champions success in honouring Qatari sport at the upcoming events, especially since everyone views the Asian Championships as a positive start for the stages ahead.
High jump delegation in Doha today
Separately, our national athletics team’s high jump delegation returns home, led by world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim, his younger brother Muammar Barshim and the promising Hamdi Al Amin, along with their world-class coach Stanley Zorba and his assistant Pavel, where they will all join an internal training camp at the players’ hotel ahead of taking part in the Asian challenge.
