Barshim scales 2.36 to claim Diamond League world lead at Chorzow

Chorzow, Poland- Mutaz Essa Barshim was back to his jumping best on Sunday as the Qatari three-time men’s high jump world and Olympic champion scaled 2.36m to claim world lead at the Wanda Diamond League Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial athletics meeting in Chorzow, Poland. Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, with whom Barshim shared the Olympic gold in Tokyo, was second on countback from German Tobias Potye after both jumpers cleared 2.32m. “I think I still have a 2.40 jump in me, hopefully this year,” said Barshim, whose personal best of 2.43m is second only to Cuban Javier Sotomayor’s best ever mark of 2.45m . The 32-year-old Barshim’s win is more significant since he hadn’t competed since his 2.24m third-place finish in Doha at the start of May, but in Silesia he looked back to his best as he cleared every height on his first try up to and including 2.32m. Fellow Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi also got over that bar, albeit with a few misses along the way, but the big surprise came from Germany’s Tobias Potye, who was the first to get over 2.34m. Tamberi soon joined him in clearing that height, but Barshim registered two failures. With one jump remaining, Barshim moved the bar to 2.36m and got over it on his first attempt to regain the lead with a meeting record, while his two opponents missed. US sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson reeled in Jamaican Shericka Jackson to claim a morale-boosting victory in the women’s 100m. Richardson and Jackson went into the race as their countries’ recently-crowned national champions, the Jamaican having run 10.65 seconds in Kingston to go fifth in the all-time list. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen earlier set a sensational European record of 3:27.14 in the men’s 1500m, edging ever closer to Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record of 3:26.00. South Africa’s Akani Simbine held his form perfectly to claim a memorable win in the men’s 100m in 9.97sec. Simbine beat world champion Fred Kerley into second, on 9.98sec in a photo finish with third-placed Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon. Simbine’s teammate Wayde van Niekerk confirmed his early-season form by scorching to an impressive victory in the men’s 400m, the world record holder clocking 44.08sec. Nigeria’s world record holder Tobi Amusan set a new meeting record of 12.34sec when winning a loaded 100m hurdles race. Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco won the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 8:03.16 for his ninth consecutive victory and third Diamond League win of the season. Venezuela’s Olympic champion and three-time world gold medallist Yulimar Rojas leaped a world leading distance of 15.18m when winning the women’s triple jump. Pole vault king Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.01m to win after he failed three times at 6.13m. The Swede soared over the bar twice, at 5.61 and 5.81m, only Americans Sam Henricks and Christopher Nilsen were left in the competition, the rest of the field having failed.  

Stage set for Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship

.DOHA , Qatar (QNA) - The 27th Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship will get underway on Monday, with the participation of 213 male and female players from 24 countries. The event will be held at the Aspire Ladies Sports Hall, and will continue through July 22. The Qatari national team will participate in the under-19 and under-15 categories, with players Abdullah Abdulwahab, Ali Hamza, Youssef Majdi, Abbad Al Abdullah, Sultan Khaled Al Kuwari, Muhammad Al Sulaiti, Rawad Al Nasser and Ahmed Eid Al Qarni. The preliminary round competitions for the teams will be held tomorrow with the second and third rounds, while the quarter and semi-final rounds will be held the day after tomorrow. The final matches of all categories will be held on Wednesday, followed by the coronation ceremony. The singles, doubles and mixed doubles competitions in the under-15 and under-19 categories will start on Thursday, and the finals will be held next Saturday. The competitions are managed by 33 referees, including 13 from Qatar. The rest of the referees are distributed from 17 countries; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Japan, Iran, China, India, Malaysia, Oman, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Thailand, Iraq, Hong Kong, Singapore, Palestine and Nepal. Tournament Director and Assistant Secretary of the Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) Ali Sultan Al Muftah affirmed that the organizing committee has well prepared the launch of the competitions in light of the large number of participation of players, coaches and administrators. The championship is a unique opportunity for young men and women to compete and shine at the scale of the Asian continent. It is sure to be a competitive and strong as players aim to win titles and qualify for the youth world championship, Al Muftah added. Al Muftah said that the QTTA organizing committee has made great efforts to organize this championship by harnessing all of QTTA's capabilities and using past international expertise in order to make this championship a success one. He pointed out that the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship reflect Qatar's ambitious vision in the sports sector and its commitment to develop young talents in various sport fields. Hosting this championship in Doha further strengthens the country's leading sport position in the region, and affirms Qatar's commitment to organize international sporting events at the highest level. 

Team Qatar conclude Arab Games campaign with perfect 23 medals

Algeria – Team Qatar athletes  have produced  impressive performance to conclude their  participation in Arab Games 2023  in Algeria on Saturday  with a perfect total  tally  of 23 medals, including 9 gold, 2 silver and 12 bronze medals . A total of  115 Qatari athletes fought tooth and nail  in 16 sport disciplines in Arab Games , handball, volleyball, basketball, swimming, Triathlon (cycling only), athletics, gymnastics, chess, fencing, sailing, boxing, (goal ball and para-athletics), Karate, judo and badminton. Team  Qatar signed off this Arab games 2023 with a perfect tally of 23 medals , that’s a very positive and promising result for these Qatari young athletes. Qatar Team took the gold medal of men’s handball event after beating Saudi Arabia 38-24 in the final match while Ali Al Athba won the gold medal of men’s foil event. Qatar’s Zhu Chen clinched the gold medals of women’s Blitz Chess and Fast Chess events while Bassem Hemeida took the gold medal of men’s 400m hurdles. Seif Mohamed claimed the gold medal of men’s pole vault event while Muaz Ibrahim won the gold medal of men’s discus throw event. Team Qatar claimed the bronze medal of basketball 3x3 event and the bronze medal of volleyball event.  

Team Qatar win handball gold medal in Arab Games

Algeria: Team Qatar on Friday won the gold medal in the Handball final at the Pan Arab Games 2023 currently underway in Algeria. Team Qatar claimed the title after beating Saudi Arabia 37-24 in the final match held in Oran city's main arena. Qatar finished the first half, leading 18-14, and had full control over the course of the second half of the match, ending the match with a vast 13 goals lead. Algeria, earlier won the bronze medal after beating Iraq 31-29 in the extra time of the consolation game. Team Qatar also claimed the bronze medal of volleyball event after beating Jordan 3-1.

Qatar’s Hemeida wins 400m hurdles gold at Asian Athletics Championships

Bangkok, Thailand - Qatar’s 400m hurdler Bassem Hemeida clinched gold medal in a fine style at the 25th Asian Athletics Championships in Bangkok on Saturday and qualified for both the World Athletics Championships 2023 and Paris 2024 Olympics. The 23-year-old Hemeida sailed over the hurdles clocking 48.64secs to win Qatar’s first gold at the Asian championships finishing ahead of Yasaku Kodama of Japan (48.96secs) and India’s Santosh Kumar (49.09secs). Bassem Hemeida scored a time of 48.64 seconds to win the first gold medal for Qatari athletics in the championship ahead of Japan's Yusaku Kodama, who finished second to win the silver medal with a time of 48.96 seconds, while India's Santhosh Kumar came in third place with the Bronze medal. After winning the race, Bassem expressed his happiness at this achievement for the first time in his career. Talking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), Bassem said that his joy at winning the gold is indescribable, given that it is his first gold at the continental level for the adult category, and it qualified him for the World Athletics Championships in Hungary next month and for the 2024 Paris Olympics Games. For his part, deputy head of the national teams committee of the Qatar Athletics Association Khalifa Abdulmalik, in remarks to QNA, praised Bassem's great achievement by winning the gold medal and qualifying for the World Championships in Hungary as well as qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Yaser Salem wins 3000m steeplechase silver medal in Asian Athletics Championships

Bangkok: Qatar's Yaser Salem on Friday won the silver medal of men's 3000m steeplechase event at the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 currently underway in Bangkok, Thailand. Yasser Salem finished second in the steeplechase race with a time (8:37.11 minutes), behind the Japanese Ryoma Aoki, to win the first silver medal for Team Qatar in the championships. Over 500 Athletes representing 41 Asian nations are participating the Asian Athletics Championships 2023.