HANGZHOU: Qatari Olympic and world champion Mutaz Barshim won the gold medal in the high jump competition on Wednesday at the 19th Asian Games, being held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Barshim, who boasts the second-best achievement in the history of the competition (2.35m), pocketed the gold medal, while the silver went to South Korea's Woo Sang-hyuk (2.33m), while Japan's Tomohiro Shino won the bronze medal (2.29m).
This is the third gold medal for Barshim after the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010 and Incheon in South Korea in 2014. He missed participating in the last edition in Jakarta 2018 due to injury.
The Qatari champion did not find it difficult to outperform his competitors, as he started the jump from a height of 2.23m, while the other competitors started from a height of 2.19m, which is the height that Barshim recorded in the qualifications, reaching 2.35m with which he won the gold medal.
Barshim tried to break his previous record at the Games by jumping to a height of 2.37m.
Barshim's gold is the 13th medal for the Qatari delegation in China. It was thefourth gold after the beach volleyball team's achievement, Mohammed Al Qarni's in the 1500m race, and Abdul Rahman Samba's in the 400m hurdles.
Thanks to Barshim'smedal, the Qatari team jumped in the medal table to 14th place with thirteen medals (four gold, six silver, and three bronze).
