As the Arab Games drew to a close in Algeria on Friday (June 14), Qatar returned home with a total of 22 medals across eight different disciplines with 13 of those won by Aspire Academy student-athletes and graduates.
Aspire Academy has hailed its student-athletes and graduates, who won medals in athletics, fencing, gymnastics and table tennis – with a total of five gold medals, one silver and seven bronze.
The 15th edition of the Arab Games was the first since 2011 and were held across various cities in Algeria.
The medals at international event highlight the success of the ongoing close working relations with various national associations – including the Qatar Athletics Federation, Qatar Fencing Federation, Qatar Table Tennis Association and the Qatar Gymnastics Federation.
Athletics
Aspire Academy’s Seif Hemeida (Seifeddine Mohamed Abdessalem) added to his ever-growing medal collection with another gold in the pole vault and again broke his Qatar national record.
The 18-year-old, who is coached by Qatar Athletics Federation’s Pawel Szczyrba, eventually cleared 5.51m to surpass the 5.50m he jumped to win the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in June.
His older brother and Aspire Academy graduate Bassem Hemeida matched him with gold in the 400m hurdles.
There was also gold for another graduate, Mohamed Ibrahim Moaaz, as he threw a new personal best of 62.48m to win the discus.
Graduate Ahmed Amgad Al-Seify won silver in the hammer with a throw of 69.61m while current part-time athlete Oumar Doudai Abakar clinched a bronze with a personal best of 14.20s in the 110m hurdles.
The Hemeida brothers and Mooaz had also stood on the podium at the Arab Athletics Championships in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh in June.
Bassem and Seif won golds in the respective events while Mooaz had to settle for silver.
Graduate Mahamat Zakaria Khalid also left Morocco with a silver medal as he was part of the 4x100m relay team.
Fencing
Qatar claimed a total of five medals in fencing with three golds and two bronzes thanks to Aspire Academy student-athletes and graduates.
Ali Turki Owaida took gold in the individual foil competition as fellow graduate Abdalla Khalifa clinched bronze.
The duo then teamed up with another Aspire Academy alumni, Khaled Aref, to take the team foil title as well.
There was further success in the epee events with current student-athlete Meshal Alqahtani winning a bronze medal in the individual event.
He also claimed bronze in the team event with two of his classmates - Mohammed Al Oulan and Mohammed Al Hazzaa as well as Jaber Al Fadaaq, who graduated last month.
Gymnastics
Rakan Al Harith Rakan, who graduated from Aspire Academy in 2022, added to Qatar’s medal tally as he won bronze on the pommel horse.
Table tennis
In the table tennis arena, there was a bronze in the men’s team event bronze for graduates Ahmed Khalil, Mohammed Abdulwahab,Abdullah Abdulwhab, Fahed Almughanne and Ahmed Alawlaqi.
Mohamed Abdulwahab and Ahmed Khalil then teamed up to win their second bronze of the games in the men’s doubles.