High Qatari ambitions in the Asian Games

Qatar looks at Asian Games Scheduled in Hangzhou, China, between September 23 and October 8, with high hopes for a distinguished appearance, especially through athletics and handball, it reflects the development witnessed after hosting the 2022 World Cup in football.

Success in the global challenge generated Asian confidence Qatar An important continental organizational station, as it is about to host the Asian Football Cup in early 2024 and the Asian Under-23 Football Cup next year as well, in addition to the largest continental event when Doha hosts the next edition of the 2030 Asian Games.

Qatar is currently searching for a foothold on the competitive level in the continental games, after it ranked 15th in the overall standings of the last Jakarta edition in 2018, a significant decline from the Incheon Asiad 2014 when it finished in tenth place.

The delegation includes 180 athletes participating in 27 different sports, with high hopes of achieving remarkable results after careful preparations through numerous participations in various events.

Hopes, as usual, will be pinned on Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim, who settled for a bronze medal in the high jump during the World Athletics Championships that was recently held in Budapest, giving up the gold at the World Cup in Eugene last year in 2022.

A distinguished presence in athletics

But Barshim will not be the only one the Qataris can count on, as there is a strong presence in athletics, embodied in the gold harvested in 2018 through Ashraf Al-Saifi in the hammer throw, Abdul Rahman Samba in the 400 meter hurdles, and the relay team in the 400 meter race, in addition to the gold medal of the late Abdul Ilah Haroun in the race. 400 m.

Qatari Athletics also won two silver medals through Tosin Ogunode in the 100 meters and Yasser Baghrab in the 3,000 meters hurdles.

All eyes will be on the Qatar handball team, in order to continue dominating the Asian gold that it won in the previous two editions, which will begin competing in the first round in Group Two, along with the South Korean and Hong Kong teams.

The Qatari delegation is also counting on the beach volleyball team, gold medalist in the previous tournament, and on the weightlifter, Fares Ibrahim, who won gold in the Olympic Games and silver in the last Asian Games.

As for football, the under-23 team, newly supervised by Portuguese Aliu do Vale, will undergo a strong ability test before entering the AFC U-23 Cup finals scheduled for April next year in Doha, in order to seek qualification to the 2024 Paris Olympics. .

Qatar hopes that its total tally will be greater than that achieved in Indonesia, when it won 13 medals (6 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze).

Jassim Rashid Al-Buainain, Secretary-General of the Olympic Committee, said: “The participation will be large, with 180 athletes, and we look forward to presenting honorable levels that will help us reach the podium.”

He added: “There will be a presence of young players in the Qatari national teams as part of the strategy for preparing for the Asian Games, Doha 2030.”

In turn, Khalil Al Jaber, President of the Swimming Federation and Executive Director of the Qatar Olympic Academy, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse: “The federations have prepared the players in a distinctive way through camps or participation in several tournaments, and therefore the mission is ready to provide decent levels and achieve the desired results.”

He concluded his statements by saying: “The handball team is a strong candidate to retain the gold it won in the previous two tournaments, and there are athletics, where we have a strong and distinguished team headed by Moataz Barshim, and there are also great chances for volleyball, shooting, and 3*3 basketball.”