Qatar’s junior team finish second at Arab Championship, Qatar’s Ashraf sets new Arab hammer record

Qatar’s national athletics team took part in the Arab Junior Men’s and Women’s Championship, held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, from 16-19 May 2012. The delegation was headed by Mr Khalifa Yousef Abdulmalik, the federation’s executive director, with Ms Mariam Abdullah Al Ishaq, board member, as delegation manager, Mr Khalid Mohammed Al Amri as delegation administrator, along with 10 coaches, 2 assistant coaches, a physiotherapist, a masseur, 2 officials, 12 male athletes and 4 female athletes. Qatar’s junior team managed to take second place behind Saudi Arabia in the men’s results after collecting 3 gold medals, the first won by Ashraf Amjad Mohammed in the hammer throw with a distance of 78.62m, the second won by Muammar Essa Barshim in the high jump after clearing the bar at a height of 2.15m, while the third gold medal went to runner Hussein Mohammed Muthanna in the 10,000m race walk. Qatar’s junior team also won 4 silver medals, the first for runner Eid Mohammed Al Kuwari in the 100m in a time of 10.62 seconds, an achievement that qualified Eid Al Kuwari to take part in the World Junior Championships, to be held in Barcelona from 10-15 July 2012, having met the qualifying standard for the 100m set by the IAAF of 10.64 seconds. Thrower Khalid Mohammed Deeb then won the second silver medal in the discus throw with a distance of 69.50m, and the silver medal tally grew further with runner Ali Hassan Al Jassim’s win in the 200m in a time of 21.34 seconds, while the fourth silver medal went to jumper Jaber Khalifa after clearing the bar at a height of 4.40m. Not content with this haul of gold and silver, Qatar’s junior team went on to add bronze, with runner Eid Abdullah Al Kuwari crowned in the 200m in a time of 21.47 seconds, then runner Muayad Mohammed Ibrahim crowned with the second bronze medal in the 800m, while the third bronze medal for Qatar’s junior team went to runner Hashem Salah Abbas in the 3000m steeplechase  
As for the results of Qatar’s junior women’s team, standout thrower Asrar Al Manai won the bronze medal in the shot put with a throw of 11.60m, while Asrar also finished fifth in the discus throw with a distance of 33.38m. Rima Thomas finished fourth in the long jump final with a distance of 5.22m, and runner Noor Al Maliki finished fifth in the 100m in a time of 12.71 seconds, though she had clocked a Qatari record of 12.65 seconds in the heats that was not ratified due to excessive wind assistance. Athlete Fatima Sasani finished sixth in the heptathlon with a total of 3337 points.

 
Head of delegation Khalifa Abdulmalik: “Our achievements are a good omen”  
Meanwhile, Mr Khalifa Abdulmalik, manager of the Qatari delegation, commented on our national junior team’s results at the championship and their second-place finish in the junior men’s competition, stressing that our promising stars had put in considerable effort during the competition and achieved outstanding results at the championship by winning 10 medals – 3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze – as well as setting a new Arab Junior Championship record in the hammer throw, set by Qatar’s Ashraf Amjad Mohammed with a distance of 78.62m. Runner Eid also managed to qualify for the World Junior Championships in Athletics, to be held in Barcelona in July this year. Khalifa Abdulmalik wished our athletes success and better results in future championships, particularly the World Junior Championships.

 
Delegation manager Ms Mariam Al Ishaq … Asraa’s silver is motivation for better achievements  
Ms Mariam Al Ishaq, delegation manager, expressed her optimism about what Qatari female athletes have achieved on the international stage, noting that at this championship they added a bronze medal to the tally of Qatari girls, won by thrower Asraa Al Manai, and that this medal is motivation for Qatari girls to achieve better results. She stressed that Qatar’s junior women had put in outstanding effort and achieved good results at the championship, rising to the responsibility placed on them, and noted that this championship was one of the preparation stages for runner Noor Al Maliki, who will take part in the London Olympics in the 100m. We hope our women’s national team achieves better results in upcoming commitments  


Below are the results of Qatar’s national team athletes at the Arab Junior Men’s and Women’s Championship – Jordan – May – 2012

Women’s results:  

Country standings table at the Arab Junior Men’s Championship – Amman   –   May 2012

Men’s results

Country standings table at the Arab Junior Women’s Championship – Amman   –   May 2012

Women’s results

Country standings table at the Arab Junior Men’s and Women’s Championship – Amman   –   May 2012

Final combined men’s and women’s standings