Sheikh Joaan Crowns Al Arabi Champion of HH the Amir's Handball Cup

DOHA, May 28, 2023  (QNA) - HE President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani crowned Al Arabi as champion of HH the Amir's Handball Cup for the 2022/2023 season, following Al Arabi's victory over Al Rayyan by a score of 37/38 in the final match held at the Duhail Handball Sports Hall. His Excellency handed the championship cup and gold medals to Al Arabi and handed the silver medals to runner-up Al Rayyan. The match was attended by HE Secretary-General of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Jassim Rashid Al Buainain and President of the Qatar Handball Association (QHA)  Mr. Ahmed Al Shaabi. This is Al Arabi's third time to being champion, having won the 2018/2019 and 2020/2021 championships. Al Rayyan however failed to win once more since its last in the 2009/2010 season, with Al Rayyan contenting itself with the runner-up position for the seventh time.  

Qatari Abderrahman Samba Wins 400m Hurdles Race at Italian Savona

ROME , May 26, 2023 (QNA) - Qatars 400m hurdler Abderrahman Samba won the first place in the 400m hurdles race at the Memorial Ottolia in Savona, Italy. Samba, who returned to the track after an absence of two years, succeeded in achieving a time of 48.56 secs, beating the Italian Danilo D'Alessandro, who finished second, while the third place was won by the Qatari Bassemi Hemeida, with a time of 49.98 secs. After winning the first place, Samba qualified for this years World Athletics Championships in Budapest after achieving the qualifying mark Samba is one of the most prominent runners, and has one of the five best records in the world for the 400m hurdles race, which is 46.98 secs. which he recorded five years ago, and looks forward to presenting the best levels in the 2023 sports season.  

Qatar Drawn with South Korea, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan in AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers

DOHA -  May 26, 2023 (QNA) - The draw for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers for the continental finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which will be hosted by the State of Qatar from April 15 until May 3, 2024. The draw resulted in the Qatari national team falling into Group B, along with South Korea , Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan, and the matches of this group will be held in South Korea. The Qatari team's participation in the qualifiers will be in a friendly match, and will not be taken into account when determining the group ranking, considering that it hosts the continental finals. A total of 43 teams will participate in the qualifiers, as this will be the six edition in the history of the tournament, and the qualifiers will be held from Sep. 4-12. The participating teams were divided into 11 groups, with 10 four-team groups, while the last group has only three teams. The draw resulted in placing Saudi Arabia, the defending champions in Group J alongside Cambodia, Lebanon and Mongolia, while Uzbekistan the runners up came in Group E against Iran, Hong Kong, China and Afghanistan. Group A brought together three teams from the West Asian region, which are Jordan, Syria and Oman, along with Brunei, while Group C included the teams of Vietnam, Singapore, Yemen and Guam. Group B brought together two teams from the West region, namely: Palestine and Bahrain, against Japan and Pakistan, while Group F included Iraq and Kuwait from the West region, along with East Timor and Macau. Group G included UAE, India, the Maldives and China , while Group H included Thailand , Malaysia, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Group I included Australia, Tajikistan, Laos and North Korea, while Group K included Turkmenistan, Indonesia and Taipei. After Round 1 of the tournament, the first of each group will qualify for the Round 2 along with the best four second placers. The teams participating in the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers were categorized on basis of the results of the 2022 edition of the championship in Uzbekistan. The AFC U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers will be played in 11 countries, these are Bahrain, China, Indonesia, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Saudi Arabia won the last edition after beating the hosts Uzbekistan 2-0 in the final. Coach of the Qatari Olympic team Bruno Miguel Pinheiro has recently announced the squad participating in Toulon International from June 5 to 18, and in the preparation camp in Girona, Spain. The 26-man squad comprises Amir Hassan, Abdullah Mohammed Ali Nadir and Yousef Abdullah in goalkeeping; Hassan Al Ghareeb, Dyab Haroun, Seif Aldeen Hassan, Abdullah Al Sulaiti, Abdullah Al Ali, Abdullah Al Yazeedi, Abdullah Yousef, Mohammed Ayash and Mustafa Essam in defense; Usama Al Tairi, Khalid Ali, Faris Saeed, Faisal Mohammed, Mohammed Al Mannae, Nayef Al Hadrami and Nabeel Irfan in midfield and Ahmed Al Rawi, Ahmed Al Saeed, Elyas Hameed, Lutfi Majer, Mubarak Shannan and Mohammed Seraj in forward. The Qatari team will play in the Toulon International Championship in Group 2 along with Australia, Mexico and Togo. 16 teams will participate in the AFC U23 Asian Cup finals, which will take place in Doha from April 15 to May 3, 2024.  

Qatar’s ace beach volleyball pair drawn in group two for Czech Ostrava Tour

DOHA -  Qatari beach volleyball team of Cherif Younnouse and Ahmed Tijan (world ranked 7th) was drawn in Group Two for the Czech Ostrava Tour, one of the 5-star Elite16 tours for men and women, to be heldfrom May 31 to June 4 with the participation of more than 74 teams from 23 countries. The second group includes the Dutch duo of Brewer & Meusen, and the Swedish duo of Ahman & Helvig, along with a fourth team that will qualify from the qualifiers. The Qatari national team seeks, through its participation in the tournament, to collect the largest number of classification points that qualify directly for the next Olympic Games (Paris 2024). The Qatari national team will start its matches in the Czech Ostrava tour on June 1 facing the fourth team from the qualifiers, then will play two matches the next day against the Breuer and Meusen, and against Halman and Helvig. Younousse and Tijan had won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and have achieved many distinguished results in recent years.

Team Qatar wins Silver medal at Arab Athletics U23 Championship

TUNIS  –  Team Qatar athlete, Samar Mansouri won silver medal in the  women’s pole vault event in the 2023 Arab Athletics U23 Championship , which concluded in Tunisia on Wednesday. Mansouri jumped up  3,10 meters high to win  the second place and raised up Qatar’ medal tally to two medals, gold and silver, after teammate, Saif Hamdia won the gold medal earlier on Monday. Team Qatar  took part in the championship with five male and female track and field athletes were  Saif Hamida in the pole vault competition, Hussein Ibrahim and Ashraf Osman in the 400m race, Ammar Obaid in the 400m hurdles race, and Abdul Majeed Zakaria in the 200m race, in addition to Saja Issa in the Women's 400m hurdles, and Samar Mansour in the Women's pole vault competition.

Qatar’s Boularas advances to fourth place in World Taekwondo Rankings

DOHA -  Team Qatar player Othman Boularas has jumped up from sixth place to fourth place in the new monthly rankings issued by the International Taekwon-Do Federation , thankfully to his achievements in a number of championships.   Boularas is preparing to compete in the poomsae event at Asian Games, China , which will be held from September 23 to October 2, 2023.   Most notably, Boularas made an incredible achievement by receiving the 6th Dan Black Belt after passed a test in South Korea, proved his high skill in this martial sport.