Team Qatar swimmers keep up victorious run at GCC Aquatics Championships

DOHA- Qatari swimmers have raised up the scale of challenge to win a gold, two silver and a bronze medal in the open age category of the 28th GCC Aquatic Championships at the Hamad Aquatic Centre on Saturday.

Kuwait, with seven gold, four silver and three bronze medals dominated the pool.

Mohammed Mahmoud was victorious in the 200M individual medley (2 mins 09.77sec). He finished ahead of Oman’s Abderahmene Al Kubaisi (2:14.51) and the UAE’s Omar Alhammadi (2:18.19).

Later, he swam the last leg of the 4x200M freestyle relay to put Qatar (8:07.33) in the third spot, behind Kuwait (7:56.67) and Oman (8:03.58).

The 18-year-old was thrilled.

“Today’s races were incredibly hard. My gold was the first-ever for Qatar over the distance, so I’m very happy. I wanted to make my family proud, and I gave it my absolute best,” he told Inside Qatar.

Abdulaziz Al Obaidly, who recently competed in the Tokyo Olympics, took silver (29.52sec) in the 50M breaststroke. Kuwait’s Rashed Altarmoom (29.38) and Bahrain’s Abdalla Khalid (29.93) were first and third respectively.

“I wanted to win gold, but narrowly missed. Overall, I’m satisfied with my times. Tomorrow, I’m aiming for gold in the 100M and 200M breaststroke events,” he said.

The 20-year-old felt Qatar’s bronze in the relay was as good as gold.

“Two of our swimmers – Kareem Salama and Omar Ashraf – compete in the 15-17 age group. Despite going against older opponents, they helped us finish third. They’ve a bright future ahead,” said Al Obaidly.

Firas Saidi, silver medallist (53.99) in 100M freestyle, was also pleased.

“Going into the competition, my aim was to win a medal, and I succeeded. My training over the last month was pretty solid, and I’m satisfied with my achievement. I hope to put up better performances soon,” he signed off.
 

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