Team Qatar stars aim high at Tokyo Olympic Games
Doha-Qatar will participate in the 32nd Summer Olympic Games 2020 to be held in the Japanese capital of Tokyo from July 23 to August 08.
A total of 15 athletes will represent Qatar in seven sports at Tokyo 2020 Olympics as Team Qatar will compete in a total of seven sports and 6 track and field disciplines.
Here are profiles of some Qatar’s top stars who will be aiming to return with medals.
Mutaz Essa Barshim
Team Qatar's bid for bid for Tokyo glory is spearheaded by the high jump superstar, Mutaz Essa Barshim.
The 28-year-old, graduate of Doha’s Aspire Academy, holds the second highest jump in history of 2.43m, a mere two centimeters short of Cuban Javier Sotomayor.
Barshim, who is London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist, will return to his third Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 looking for the top Olympic glory.
Abderrahman Samba
Qatar's second star in the list is Abderrahman Samba. The 25-year-old Qatari track and field athlete claimed the bronze medal of 400m hurdles at 2019 World athletics championships held in Doha.
Samba qualified for Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics Games after winning the 400 hurdles gold medal in the Shanghai Diamond League meeting 2019 with a world-leading time of 47.27 seconds.
Abubaker Haydar
Qatar's third star in the list is Abubaker Haydar, who qualified to 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games after finishing 4th in the 800m event in at Doha Diamond League 2019.
Haydar’s 1:44.82 surpassed the qualifying time of 1:45.20 seconds set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Haydar has won numerous Asian junior medals as well as winning his first race as a senior in the 4x400m relay. Haydar participated in Rio Summer Olympic Games 2016.
Abdirahman Saeed Hassan
Qatar's fourth track and field star is Abdirahman Saeed Hassan who booked a spot at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the men’s 1,500m event with a second place finish at the II Meeting Challenge Nerja 2021 in Spain. The 24-year-old comfortably dipped under the qualifying standard of 3 minutes 35 seconds with a personal best 3:34.24 for a second-place finish at the Enrique López Cuenca Stadium in Nerja, Malaga to accompany his teammate Musaab for 1500m in Olympics.
Musaa Adam
Meanwhile, middle-distance runner Musaab Adam secured his spot Tokyo Olympics when he won the qualifying 1,500m race held in Doha with a time of 3.32.41 minutes.
Ashraf El Seify
Qatar’s hammer thrower Ashraf El Seify will be one of the Qatari athletic stars to participate in the Olympics. El Seify qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games by virtue of his world ranking of 19. Tokyo will be the 26-year-old Ashraf’s second Olympics. He was sixth on his Olympic debut in Rio 2016.
El Seify won the gold medal of 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships with a record-breaking throw of 85.57m and then again at 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships.
He also claimed the silver medals of 2015 and 2019 Asian Championships and the gold medal of 2018 Asian Games.
Bashayer al-Mnawari
Qatari triple and long jumper Bashayer al-Mnawari has been keeping up her amazing performance at the GCC athletics championships since 2008. This year, al-manwari will raise the scale of challenge in the women’s 100m hoping to lift her regional and continental career to a new level with a distinctive Olympic performance in Tokyo. Most notably, the Qatari promising triple and long jumper has secured a lot of titles in her GCC sport career, she won the triple and long jump gold of the GCC Women Games consecutively in Bahrain 2013 and Qatar 2014. She is a five-time gold medallist in the GCC Championships from 2015 to 2019. Al-manwari made an impressive performance in both Asian Games 2014 (Incheon, Korea) and Gymnasiade 2015.
Femi Ogunode
Qatar’s sprinter Femi Ogunode booked himself an Olympic spot in the men’s 100m during the Doha Diamond League meeting in Doha last May. In a 100m ‘B’ race, Ogunode, who ran an Asian record of 9.91s back in 2015, clocked 10 seconds to top the charts, dipping under the Tokyo Olympics standard of 10.05 sec.
Ogunode confirmed that he is ready for the Olympics by winning the gold medal of 100m and 200m event at 2021 Arab Athletics Championships. Ogunode made history when he was selected by the Association of National Olympic Committees in 2015 as the best male athlete in Asia. He also claimed the gold medal of 100m and 200m events at 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
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