Gold medallist Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba celebrates during the victory ceremony for the men’s 400M hurdles event during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta yesterday. Samba (22), broke the Games record in the men’s 400m hurdles when he finished his run in 47.
Doha: Qatar won a gold and silver in athletics yesterday at the Asian Games with Abderrahman Samba sprinting to the finish to clinch the 400 metres gold while Yassir Salem Mubarak clinched the silver in the Steeplechase.
After yesterday’s one gold and silver, Qatar now has three gold and equal number of silver while also picking up one bronze in the continental championship.
Samba (22), broke the Games record in the men’s 400m hurdles when he finished his run in 47.66 seconds. Dharun Ayyasamy of India was a distant second with a time of 48.96 while Japanese athlete Takatoshi Abe finished third.
“I’ve had an awesome race today! I’m very happy that I have achieved a gold medal and clearing an Asian Games record. It doesn’t beat my personal time but it is still considered a great time under 48 secs. I’m proud to raise the Qatari flag high on the podium. I would like to dedicate this gold medal to H H the Amir and the people of Qatar, and I will do my best to add to this achievement in the coming events,” said Samba after winning the event.
“It’s a good feeling you know. Actually these are big competitions, the Asian Games, the Asian Championship. I think I worked hard this season to be in this place and I won gold medal,” he added.
“Also this competition makes me prepare for next year in the world championship and 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” Samba said after winning the 400m race.
Earlier, Qatar’s Yassir Salem Mubarak won the silver medal in the steeplechase with a timing of eight minutes 28.21 seconds. The men’s 3000m steeplechase gold went to Iranian Hossein Keyhani, who broke the Games record for the event by clocking eight minutes 22.79 seconds while the bronze medal went to Japanese Kazuya Shiojiri.
Qatar’s Hashim Mohamed came fifth finishing the race in eight minutes 35.40 seconds.
The rest of the medals for Qatar at the 2018 Games have come from Abdalelah Haroun’s gold in 400m, Ashraf Saifi’s gold in hammer throw, Tosin Ogunode’s silver in the 100m race, Fares Hassouna’s silver in weightlifting (94kg), and Hammad Al Marri’s bronze medal in shooting, double Trap.
In javelin throw, Ahmed Magour finished sixth by clearing a distance of 78.23m while Mohamad Kaida finished seven places behind him.
In high jump, Hamdi Al Ameen leaped to a distance of 2.24m to come fifth.
In the other athletics events, Jamal Hairan and Abubaker Haidar, both qualified for today’s final of the 800m with a timing of 1:47.45 and 1:48.25 respectively.
In Karate, Qatar were not so lucky as Qassim Ghavidel lost in the Men’s 75kg pre-quarter-finals going down to Pakistan’s Saadi Abbas 6-1.
In Squash team event, Qatar registered contrasting wins in the Pool B matches. In the first match they defeated Thailand 3-0 and then defeated Indonesia by a margin of two games to one.
Meanwhile, Qatar will feature in Friday’s Handball final, as they defeated South 27-20 in yesterday’s semi-final.
Elsewhere today, Qatar will take on the challenge of Japan in the Volleyball quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, India’s Neeraj Chopra smashed the field to claim the men’s javelin gold at the Asian Games on Monday by posting his personal best which was nearly six metres clear of his closest competitor.
The long-haired 20-year-old entered the competition in Jakarta having posted the season’s best throw by an Asian when he hurled 87.43 metres at the Diamond League leg in Doha in May.
The Commonwealth Games champion threw even further at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, clearing a distance of 88.06 metres. China’s Liu Qizhen posted a personal best of 82.22m for the silver. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem took bronze.
Chopra began with a modest 83.46 and after fouling his second attempt, registered his best effort of the night on his third.
In men’s high jump, China’s Wang Yu leapt 2.30 metres to claim the gold ahead of South Korea’s Woo Sang-hyeok whose season’s best of 2.28 fetched him the silver. Syrian Majd Eddin Ghzal and Japan’s Naoto Tobe both cleared 2.24 to claim a bronze apiece.
It was Syria’s first medal at the ongoing Games.
