Team Qatar arrive in Greece for IHF Men’s Beach World Championships

Greece - Qatar’s beach handball team will begin campaign in the 2022 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championships  in Greece’s city of Heraklion on Tuesday.  Team Qatar will shake hands with the Brazilian counterparts  in the first game and lock horns against Portugal in the second match. Team Qatar are placed in Group D alongside Brazil, Portugal and New Zealand. The 16 teams are split into four groups of four teams each with the top three in each group qualifying through to two main round groups of six teams each.  The top four in each main round group then progress through to the quarter-finals, followed by semi-finals and then medal matches. Qatar secured their place in the world championships after claiming the second place in the 8th Asian Beach Handball Championships held in Tehran in March 2022. The list includes 18 players, namely, Sayed Kenawy, Abdel Razzaq Murad, Amir Danqir, Moatasem Abdel Wahed, Mohamed Hassan Saleh, Hadi Hamdoun, Omar Khaled, Ali Jarba, Ahmed Abdel Haq, Ahmed El Miniawy, Hani Kakhi, Rashid Youssef, Abdel Rahman Tariq, Ahmed Nader, and Hamdi Ayyad, Muhammad Ahmad Zaki, Mohsen Al Yafei and Ali Ahmad.  

Sheikha Asma becomes first Qatari woman to scale Mount Denali

Mountaineer Sheikha Asma bint Thani al-Thani has become the first Qatari woman to reach the summit of Mount Denali, the highest peak in North America and one of the Seven Summits, at a height of 6,190m. With this, she is just one summit away from completing the Explorers Grand Slam, which involves climbing all Seven Summits and reaching the North and South poles. "Achievements keep coming. Mountaineering legend Sheikha Asma bint Thani al-Thani becomes the first Qatari woman to reach the summit of Mount Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America and one of the Seven Summits, with a height of 6,190m," Qatar Olympic Committee tweeted about Sheikha Asma's feat. Besides being the first Qatari woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Sheikha Asma recently became the first Arab to reach the summit of Mount Kangchenjunga – the world’s third highest mountain located between Nepal and India at an elevation of 8,586m. In January, she had become the first Qatari to ski to both North and South poles. Also, less than 24 hours after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, Sheikha Asma recently became the first Qatari woman to scale Mount Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516m.  

Yulo ends campaign with three gold as Asian Championships concludes

DOHA: Carlos Yulo of the Philippines concluded his 9th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships campaign on a brilliant note by winning three gold and one silver medals here on Saturday evening. The 22-year-old picked up two gold medals (MAG vault and parallel bars) to add to his floor gold which he won on Friday besides All-Around silver, which was his country's first silver in Asian Championships on Thursday. "Doha is my favourite venue. I like this city and the venue where I had won my maiden World Championships medal in 2018," said Yulo, who is based in Japan for training. Overall, it has been a great show by Yulo, whose achievement here helped him seal his fifth spot in FIG Artistic World Championships in Liverpool scheduled to be held from October 29 to November 6, with the Filipino finishing fourth on the rings. All the podium-finishers together with fourth and fifth-placers will qualify for the world meet as well. Yulo pipped his nearest competitors Hansol Kim of South Korea and Japan's Shiga Tachibana for the gold with a combined Execution and Difficulty of 14.884 points in the men's vault at the Aspire Dome. The two-time world champion became an overnight hero in the Qatari capital four years ago after he bagged his country's first-ever medal, a bronze in men's Floor final, in a World Championships. "It's a lucky venue for me. I always love to visit Qatar and I also thank the Gymnastics Association of Philippines for supporting me," said Yulo, who claimed his second gold of the day in Parallel Bars. Yulo collected 15.167 points followed by China's Dehang Yin and Japan's Tsuyoshi Hsaegawa.    

Yulo ends campaign with three gold as Asian Championships concludes

DOHA: Carlos Yulo of the Philippines concluded his 9th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships campaign on a brilliant note by winning three gold and one silver medals here on Saturday evening. The 22-year-old picked up two gold medals (MAG vault and parallel bars) to add to his floor gold which he won on Friday besides All-Around silver, which was his country's first silver in Asian Championships on Thursday. "Doha is my favourite venue. I like this city and the venue where I had won my maiden World Championships medal in 2018," said Yulo, who is based in Japan for training. Overall, it has been a great show by Yulo, whose achievement here helped him seal his fifth spot in FIG Artistic World Championships in Liverpool scheduled to be held from October 29 to November 6, with the Filipino finishing fourth on the rings. All the podium-finishers together with fourth and fifth-placers will qualify for the world meet as well. Yulo pipped his nearest competitors Hansol Kim of South Korea and Japan's Shiga Tachibana for the gold with a combined Execution and Difficulty of 14.884 points in the men's vault at the Aspire Dome. The two-time world champion became an overnight hero in the Qatari capital four years ago after he bagged his country's first-ever medal, a bronze in men's Floor final, in a World Championships. "It's a lucky venue for me. I always love to visit Qatar and I also thank the Gymnastics Association of Philippines for supporting me," said Yulo, who claimed his second gold of the day in Parallel Bars. Yulo collected 15.167 points followed by China's Dehang Yin and Japan's Tsuyoshi Hsaegawa.    

Japan advance to play in first ever Final against defending champions Australia

DOHA (Qatar) - Japan advance to play in their first ever U16 Asian Championship Final to face defending champions Australia after both teams claimed wins in the Semi-Finals today. The first team to confirm their spot in the Final were Japan as they cruised to a 99-79 win over New Zealand. Japan went on an 11-0 run to end the first quarter, building a lead big enough to withstand whatever runs New Zealand had left. Yuto Kawashima had yet another big game for Japan, arguably his best so far in the competition. In this game, Kawashima scored a 38 points, most by any player so far and 5th most in the history of the competition. New Zealand fought back with the stellar play of Nic Book who had 25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Meanwhile, Australia also went nearly wire to wire with the lead on the way to a 85-51 win over Lebanon. The Crocs held the young Cedars to only one point for the first 6 minutes of the game, going on an 18-0 run in the process. Lebanon had some short bursts and rallies to keep the lead from going out of hand, but Australia were in full control. It was a team effort as usual for Australia as all players saw at least 10 minutes of playing team with nearly everyone getting on the scoreboard. Jacob Furphy led all scorers with 15. Rocco Zikarsky and Roman Siulepa also added in double-digit scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively. As a result of these games, Japan and Australia will face each other in the FIBA U16 Asian Championship 2022 Final. The game will be played 16 June at 8:15 PM (GMT +3). This will be Japan’s first time playing in a U16 Asian Championship Final, although they have finished at third place twice. Australia will be defending their title, looking to make it 2 straight championships in as many appearances in the competition.  

Yulo dominates on floor at Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships

DOHA: 2019 world champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines won the gold in men's floor exercise at the 9th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships here at the Aspire Dome on Friday.  The 22-year-old collected 14.933 points to overcame the challenges from his Chinese, Japanese and Korean competitors.  South Korea's Kim Hansol and China's Jiaxing Yang finished second and third respectively.    The feat earned Yulo a spot, his third after his second-place finish in All-Around on Thursday and fourth in rings today, in FIG Artistic World Championships in Liverpool from October 29 to November 6.  Yulo's was confidence personified on the floor and his performance was an exemplary one given the presence of gymnasts from traditional heavyweights like China, Japan and South Korea.    “The current gymnastics competition is one of the best that Qatar has organized and hosted in recent years with the presence of Asia’s best gymnasts,” said Essa Al Hitmi, Qatar Gymnastics Federation board member.  Seojong wins vault gold, Oksana finishes fifth Uzbekistan's record eight-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina was under the spotlight and glare in the women's vault final.  But the 46-year-old finished fifth in the apparatus which was won by South Korea's Seojong Yeo (14.084) while Japan's Shoko Miyata took silver (13.884) and India's Pranati Nayak finished third (13.367).  Jordan's Ahmad seals World Championships berth Jordan's Ahmed Abu Al Soud shocked some of continent's well-known pommel horse exponents including Iran's Saeedreza Keikha to claim the title.   The 26-year-old was ahead of his rivals particularly included Keikha, who became the first Iranian gymnast to have a skill named for him in the Code of Points in 2018.  Al Soud collected 15.233 points followed by Kazakhstan's Nariman Kurbanov (14.800) and China's Dehang Yin (14.600).  All the podium-finishers together with fourth and fifth-placers will qualify for the world meet as well. On Thursday, 21-one-year-old Cong Shi took the men’s All-Around gold to contribute to China’s domination in the Asian meet with 83.33 points, ahead of Yulo, a two-time world champion, who came second with 83.867 points. Defending champions China swept men’s and women’s Team and All-Around titles on Thursday.