Qatar’s Ahmed Jibreen wins discus thrown gold at Asian U20 Athletics Championships

ABU Dhabi, UAE – Qatar athlete Ahmed Jibreen  displayed perfect  performance   to win  the discus  throw  gold  at  the  Asian U20 Athletics Championships , which is organized by UAE in its capital city of Abu Dhabi. Qatar’s Jibreen threw to a  54.80m distance to claim  the first place overall and to honor Qatar with first  medal in the championships. Ten Qatari athletes are competing in different athletics classes of  this championships, including 1500m   ,  400m,  400m, 200m and 100m running .  

Team Qatar eye full points against Japan at AFC U-23 Asian Cup 2024

DOHA - Hosts Qatar will kick off the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024 quarter-final action against 2016 winners Japan at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Thursday, with the hosts aiming to win the title for the first time. That will be followed by 2020 champions South Korea facing debutants Indonesia at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium. Defending champions Saudi Arabia set up a last eight clash with 2018 winners Uzbekistan following the conclusion of the group stage on Tuesday. The tie at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha on Friday headlines an impressive last eight cast, with the other three former AFC U23 Asian Cup winners also through. Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia will square off at the Khalifa International Stadium in a repeat of the 2022 final, with Friday’s second quarter-final between 2013 champions Iraq and 2018 runners-up Vietnam taking place at the Al Janoub Stadium. Besides the coveted trophy, the top three teams will qualify for the Paris Olympics with the fourth-placed side to face African side Guinea in a playoff for a possible fourth slot at the 2024 Games.  

Opening Ceremony of Youth GCC Games Takes Place

Dubai: The official opening ceremony of the 1st Youth GCC Games UAE 2024 was held on Tuesday evening at the Dubai Opera. Held until May 2 under the theme, "Our Gulf is One... Our Youth are Promising", the inaugural Youth GCC Games features the participation of 3,500 athletes competing in 24 sports. The opening ceremony was attended by the QOC Second Vice President H.E. Dr. Thani bin Abdulrahman Al Kuwari and the QOC Secretary General H.E. Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain, in addition to the Qatari delegation participating in the GCC Youth Games UAE 2024.  Team Qatar Rider Sheikh Mohamed bin Jassim al-Thani carried the Qatari flag during the opening ceremony. Qatar’s showjumping contingent includes riders Sheikh Mohamed bin Jassim al-Thani, Khalifa Abdullah al-Khalidi, Sultan Salem al-Nuaimi, Ghanem Nasser al-Qadi and Saad Ahmed al-Saad.   

Qatar’s Abubaker Haydar qualifies for Paris Olympics

Doha: Qatar’s middle-distance runner Abubaker Haydar qualified for Paris Olympics following a brilliant show at the Athletics Championships held in Spain on Sunday.  Abubakr clocked 1.44.60s to win the 800m race and book his Paris ticket. The entry standard for Olympics in the discipline is 1:44.70.  

Stefecekova triumphs as Couzy, Dmitriyenko bag Olympic quotas

Doha: Slovakia’s reigning Olympic trap women champion Zuzana Stefecekova laid down a huge marker for this summer’s Paris 2024 Games as she dominated at the Final Olympic Qualification Championship Shotgun at the Lusail Shooting Complex. The 40-year-old, who also took Olympic silver at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, won gold in hot and windy conditions in Lusail, finishing four hits clear of Australia’s Laetisha Scanlan on 46. The two Paris quota places on offer in this event went to France’s 34-year-old Melanie Couzy, who finished sixth in the final, and Kazakhstan’s Mariya Dmitriyenko, who took eighth place at the Rio 2016 Games. Dmitriyenko earned her slot after finishing fourth in a shoot-off involving six athletes who had totalled 118 hits in qualifying, although she missed out on the final by one place. The top three in the shoot-off were Couzy, Scanlan and Adriana Ruano Oliva of Guatemala – and the French athlete was the only athlete who made the final who had begun the championship eligible to win an Olympic quota place. The Kazakh athlete was under pressure to the end as the woman who finished one place behind her in the shoot-off, Turkiye’s Safiye Temizdemir, was also eligible to win a quota place, although the sixth-placed Fatima Galvez of Spain already had a slot won for Paris. Garcia wins to secure Paris 2024 quota Spain’s 20-year-old Andres Garcia put himself in line for his first Olympic appearance as he earned a Paris 2024 trap men quota place with victory. Garcia – world junior champion in 2021 and European junior champion a year later – offered further evidence of his huge talent as he held off Italy’s 43-year-old Mauro De Filippis, already in possession of an Olympic quota place, to win gold by 46-45. All except the Italian went into this tense final eligible to win a quota place, and the first to secure his country that honour was Turkiye’s 41-year-old Oguzhan Tuzun as he secured third place ahead of Malta’s Gianluca Chetcuti. De Filippis, world silver medallist in 2019 and gold medallist at last year’s European Games, had topped qualification with 124 – just one shy of the maximum.  

Qatar International Youth Squash Tournament gets underway

Doha: The competitions of Qatar International Youth Squash Tournament will begin at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex on Monday.  The tournament will feature the participation of 113 players from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore and hosts Qatar. Saad Al Mohannadi, Executive Director of the Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation and Tournament Director said, “We are keen to organize this type of tournaments as they will help our players develop their skills and will provide them with an opportunity to compete with players from other squash schools.” Al Mohannadi stressed that the Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation will spare no effort to support the Qatari players and wished them all success in this event.