Our national junior athletics team duo Owaab Barrow and Ammar Obaid have officially booked their places at the World U20 Championships finals, due to be held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in mid-July 2020.
The pair hit the qualifying standard in the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles respectively, becoming the first Qatari qualifiers, while qualification continues through local and regional championships until June, with more qualifiers expected.
Owaab Barrow had clocked 13.93 seconds in the 110m hurdles at the local track championship for the under-12, under-14, junior and youth categories, becoming the first to qualify for the Olympics.
The Qatar team’s star and Aspire Academy student will look to achieve a new feat in Kenya, having already won gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina in October 2018 with a time of 13.17 seconds.
Despite his young age, Owaab competed at the recent Doha 2019 World Championships alongside the best athletes and world and Olympic champions, and finished third in his heat in the preliminary round, clocking 10.64 seconds.
Meanwhile, our promising champion Ammar Obaid Abdul Majeed secured the second qualifying spot for the Kenya World Championships in the 400m hurdles at the ACNW League championship in South Africa, clocking 51.74 seconds.
Ammar Obaid had previously won gold in the 400m hurdles at the third West Asian Junior Championships held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, last August, clocking 53.42 seconds.
More Qatar team champions will have the chance to qualify for the World U20 Championships, with our players facing several important upcoming competitions, most notably the Arab Championships, due to be held from 11 to 14 April in Tunisia, followed by the Asian Youth Championships in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in May.
Our players will also compete at the West Asian Championships in June, due to be held in Jordan, in addition to local championships and numerous overseas training camps.
