Qatar second at World Youth Championships in Barcelona as Qatari Ashraf breaks world youth hammer record with 85.57 m

Qatar second at World Youth Championships in Barcelona as Qatari Ashraf breaks world youth hammer record with a distance of 85.57 m

The World Youth Athletics Championships opened at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Tuesday 10 July, with the participation of 180 countries and around 1,734 male and female athletes from around the world. Among the participating countries were 15 Arab nations (Qatar – Morocco – Saudi Arabia – Algeria – Sudan – Tunisia – Egypt  – Kuwait – Bahrain – Oman – Lebanon – Iraq – Yemen – Syria – Palestine), represented by 72 athletes, only 12 of them women.  Morocco and Saudi Arabia had the largest Arab representation, each with 12 athletes. The championship ran over 6 wonderful days marked by the joy and delight of the winners, the pain and tears of the losers, and the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of others, and concluded on Sunday 15 July with a simple ceremony that reflected the authenticity and heritage of the Spanish people. While positive notes were recorded on the championship, with 10 World Youth Championships records set, 5 for the boys and the same number for the girls, negative notes were also recorded on the management and organisation of the championship, most notably the clear absence of spectators, with most of the stands empty of any crowd, indicating a shortcoming in the management and organisation of the championship — a phenomenon we have not seen at any previous World Championships.

Qatari Ashraf the most exciting and brilliant event

The most distinguished and brilliant event, which stole the spotlight and drew special attention from specialists in world athletics and was covered by international news agencies, was the breaking of the world youth hammer throw record by young Qatari athlete Ashraf Amjad, born in 1995, who at this age belongs to the junior category, where Qatari Ashraf managed, with full merit and deservedness and with determination, resolve and a high fighting spirit, to take on the world’s youth-category champions, break their world record and snatch its gold from them, on the fourth day of the World Youth Championships held in Barcelona, where world champion Qatari Ashraf managed, in his fifth attempt, to throw the 6kg hammer a distance of (85.57) m, breaking the world youth record held by Spanish thrower Javier Cienfuegos at (82.84) m, set in Madrid on 14 June 2009, noting that in his third attempt, before breaking the world youth record, champion Ashraf broke the World Youth Championships record with a distance of (81.84) m — the previous World Youth Championships record was held by American thrower Conor McCullough at (81.79) m, set at the previous World Championship on 25/7/2010 in Moncton, Canada — and it is worth noting that Qatari thrower Ashraf also holds the best world youth-category performance in the hammer throw (5kg), with a distance of (85.26) m, set on 20/2/2011 in the city of Reidi.

Hamza snatches gold from the Kenyans and Ethiopians in the 1500m

Qatari runner Hamza Driouch also managed to snatch the gold medal in the 1500m with a time of (3:39.04), after overcoming the champions of Kenya and Ethiopia and taking the lead from the start of the second lap to lead the race with full confidence and determination to win, finishing the race in his favour, having his say and claiming the gold medal and the title of world youth champion in the 1500m, noting that Qatari runner Hamza holds the silver medal from the Youth Olympic Games held in Singapore in 2010, and that his best time over 1500m is (3:33.69), and the medals won by Hamza and Ashraf at the World Youth Championships in Barcelona are the sixth gold medal in the history of Qatari athletics at World Youth Championships, where the first gold medal was won by Qatari runner Mubarak Al Nubi in the 400m hurdles in Sydney in 1996, the second gold medal by high jumper Al Waleed Abdullah in the long jump in Kingston in 2002, while the third gold medal was won by runner Majed Saeed Sultan in the 800m in 2004 in Grosseto, and the fourth gold medal went to Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim in the high jump in Canada in 2010. 

Qatar the most brilliant, finishing second in the world in the boys’ championship results

In terms of countries’ achievements and standings, Qatar achieved an unprecedented feat in the history of Qatari athletics, finishing second behind the United States in the boys’ results standings alone, a position it shared with Cuba and Ethiopia, each with two gold medals only, while the United States’ boys’ team collected 4 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals.

Overall standings of countries at the championship

In the overall standings of countries at the championship, the United States returned to the top of world athletics after having lost its crown to Kenya at the previous championship in Moncton, Canada, in 2010, finishing second behind Kenya, while the United States won first place at this championship with 9 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze medals, and Kenya came second behind the United States after its male and female athletes collected 4 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals, while third place went to Ethiopia with 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal, fourth place to Cuba, fifth to Germany and sixth to Russia, while Jamaica fell away from the leading positions to finish seventh with 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal, Britain came eighth, the Bahamas ninth, and Qatar and Sweden shared tenth place in the overall country standings with 2 gold medals each, while Morocco finished in 38th place after winning 3 bronze medals, and Saudi Arabia shared 40th place in the overall standings with the Netherlands and Uzbekistan.

Al Zaini, President of the Qatar Federation, dedicates the achievements to HH the Amir and his trusted Heir Apparent

HE Abdullah Ahmed Al Zaini, President of the Qatar Athletics Federation, expressed his happiness and delight at what the Qatari players achieved at the World Youth Championships and at this global Qatari achievement, with Qatar winning two gold medals at the World Youth Athletics Championships, and he dedicated these global achievements to HH the Amir of the country, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and to his trusted Heir Apparent, HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani – President of the Qatar Olympic Committee, and the federation president stressed that these achievements could not have been realised without the care and attention our wise leadership devotes to sport and athletes, and that these global athletics achievements are the fruit of that care and attention.

Adel Al Baker: the achievements are the fruit of the approach the federation has adopted for caring for the age-group categories

Mr Adel Mohammed Al Baker – Secretary General of the Qatar Athletics Federation, also expressed his joy and delight at these global athletics victories, noting that these achievements are the result and fruit of the approach the federation has adopted in caring for the age-group categories and providing all material and moral resources to raise their technical standards, as well as of the continuous attention and follow-up by Qatar’s wise sporting leadership, which has elevated sport until Qatar has joined the ranks of the world’s advanced sporting nations.

Khalifa Abdulmalik praises the achievements and outstanding results of Qatar’s youth in Barcelona

In an interview with Al Sharq newspaper, Mr Khalifa Abdulmalik, Executive Director and spiritual father of Qatar’s promising champions, praised the harvest and fruits of the national team’s participation in the Barcelona world championship and the outstanding results of Qatar’s loyal youth, and commended the talented young Qataris’ contribution and brilliance in the global challenge.. stressing that the mother of sports is, and will always remain, the crown of Qatari sport and a source of pride for us.. and he highlighted the two gold achievements of champions Ashraf Al Saifi and Hamza Driouch, saying they represent the hope and future of Qatari athletics along with the rest of the young champions, and he also extended deep thanks and gratitude to our wise leadership for the support, encouragement and backing it provides to Qatari athletics, which has enabled it to sit atop the throne and become a distinguished mark on the global stage.

The Qatari delegation to the World Youth Championships in Barcelona comprised: HE Abdullah Ahmed Al Zaini – President of the Qatar Athletics Federation – head of delegation, Mr Issa Abdullah Al Harami, Assistant Secretary General of the Federation, as head of mission, and Mr Mohammed Taher as an official, while the team consisted of 9 players: Ashraf Amjad,  Moamer – Issa Barshim – runner Hamza Driouch – runner Jamal Hairan – Salah Hashim – Muayad Ibrahim – Jamal Abdennasser Abubaker – Eid Abdullah Al Kuwari – Ali Hassan Al Jassim – in addition to the coaches.. Jame Adan, coach – Salah Shabouh – – Pavel Sherba – and Alexei Melikov.

The following are the results of the Qatari team taking part in the World Youth Athletics Championships in Barcelona 2012, Qatar