Turkmenistan men and Jordanian women lead standings of FIBA 3x3 U-23 Nations League

Doha: Turkmenistan and Jordan emerged men’s and women’s winners respectively in the fifth and penultimate Stop of the 2023 FIBA 3x3 U-23 Nations League - Doha (West Asia) at the Al Gharafa Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Turkmenistan men defeated their Jordan (22-11), Qatar (20-19) and Saudi Arabia (16-14) counterparts to top the table. Meanwhile, Jordan women also won all three of their matches, defeating Turkmenistan (22-14), Saudi Arabia (20-9) and Qatar (22-7). Both Qatar men and women teams lost all their matches on Sunday.  

Qatar participates in Special Olympics World Summer Games’ Heads of Delegations meet

Berlin: The State of Qatar on Sunday participated in the Special Olympics World Summer Games’ Heads of Delegations’ meeting after the Games’ conclusion in the German capital Berlin. As many 7,000 special athletes from 170 countries attended the Berlin Games. At the meeting, Qatar was represented by Assistant-Secretary of the Qatar Sports Federation for Special Needs and a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation Abdul Qadir Al Mutawa. The meeting was also attended by the Regional President of Special Olympics for Middle East and North Africa Ayman Abdel Wahab who expressed his overwhelming happiness with the medal haul in the Special Olympics World Summer Games, praising the wonderful technical levels demonstrated and talked about many important issues. He also announced that he will soon visit a number of countries in the region and meet with their sports ministers.  

Qatar all set for opening clash against Haiti in Houston tonight

Houston: Qatar's national football team concluded today their preparations in the US city of Houston for the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2023, slated to run from June 24 to July 16 in the US and Canada. The team will take on Haiti at NRG Stadium in Houston on June 25, within Group B which includes Qatar, Mexico, Haiti and Honduras. The Asian champions play Honduras in Glendale, Arizona on June 29, followed by a showdown with Mexico in Santa Clara, California on July 2. Qatar are featuring at the Gold Cup as a guest side for the second time at a special invitation from CONCACAF under the cooperation agreement with the Qatar Football Association. Al-Aadam made their training today at the stadium of the University of Houston, Texas, as the coach of the national team, Carlos Queiroz, preferred to close the training except for the main training session only for a period of 15 minutes, according to the regulations of the CONCACAF Federation. Queiroz focused on the physical aspects while diversifying the training program and focusing on training defenders, midfielders and strikers, with a division in which all players participated. He was also keen on studying the opponents by following the recordings of recent matches in the CONCACAF Nations League, as well as friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago, which ended in a goalless draw. Prior to announcing Qatar's final squad for the 2023 Gold Cup, the Qatari team wrapped up a training camp in Austria which served as the final phase of preparation ahead of the tournament. Qatar Gold Cup squad announced by Coach Carlos Queiroz were: Goalkeepers: Mishaal Barsham, Salah Zakaria and Youssef Hassan Defenders: Hazem Ahmed, Ahmed Suhail, Jassem Jaber, Tariq Salman, Musab Khader, Bassam al-Rawi, Youssef Ayman and Hommam al-Amin Midfielders: Ahmed Fathi, Abdullah al-Maarafi, Asim Madebo, Ali Asad, Mohamed Waad, Mahdi Salem and Mustafa Mishaal Forwards: Almoez Ali, Mohamed Muntari, Tamim Mansour, Khaled Mounir and Youssef Abdulrisag (QNA)  

Qatar’s Cherif and Ahmed in Senior Asian Beach Volleyball C’ship semi-finals

Reigning champions Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan sailed into the quarter-finals of the Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championship at the Beach Sport Base of Pingtan in Fuzhou, China, on Saturday with a dominanting show.  In their pursuit of a fourth Asian title, the Qatari pair overwhelmed Gurin Kirill and Aldash Nurdos of Kazakhstan 21-12, 21-16 in the Round of 16. Their triumph set up a semi-final clash against the formidable Australian pair of Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert, currently ranked 10th in the world.  In an earlier pool match, Cherif and Ahmed beat the Japanese duo of Shiro Faruta and Dylan Hiroki Kurokawa 21-12, 21-13. Meanwhile, Qatar’s second pair at the Asian Championship, Ibrahim Nassim Abdullah and Zaki Mohamed Ihab bid farewell to the event losing the final match of Pool H to Oman’s Ahmed Alhousni and Haitham Alshereiqi 21-14, 21-10. Despite this loss, Ibrahim and Zaki managed to secure only one win throughout the pool stage, defeating Jude Garcia and James Buytrago from the Philippines.  

Team Qatar stars shine in Arab Athletics Championship

Marrakesh: Qatari athletes raised on Saturday their tally to seven colored medals in the 23rd Arab Athletics Championship in Morocco, with the participation of more than 350 male and female athletes representing 16 countries. Duo Femi Ogunode and Bassem Abdel Salam won two gold medals. Femi Ogunode managed to win the first place and the gold medal of the 200m event with a time of 20.52 seconds to add a second medal to his personal tally after winning the gold medal of the 100m race at the start of the championship. Bassem Abdel Salam won the first place and the gold medal of the 400m hurdles race with a time of 48.79 seconds, setting a new personal record for him in the race this season. With the two golds of the 200m event and 400m hurdles, Qatari Athletes maintain third place in the overall medal table with seven medals (five golds and two silvers). Moroccan athletes lead the overall standings of the championship with 52 medals, followed by Egyptians with 19 medals. (QNA)  

Qatar roller skaters excel at Special Olympics

Qatar’s Hamad Al Hebabi claimed silver medal in the men’s 300m roller-skating (D02 category) while Qatar’s Shuaa Al Abdulla won bronze in women’s 300m roller-skating event at the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 in Germany on Saturday.  Al Hebabi finished the race in 1 minute 47.10 secs, while Al Abdulla stopped the clock at 1:50.17. This took Qatar’s medal count to three at the Games in Berlin, after Hamad Al Hebabi claimed silver medal in the 30-metre straight line roller skating on Tuesday.