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Silver for men’s 4x400m quartret; Bronze for Al Mannai in triple jump and Al Arami in taekwondo
Agencies
Doha
Qatar athletes put up a great combined effort on the fourth day of the track and field events to collect one gold, one silver, one bronze and a creditable fourth place finish on Wednesday at Ashgabat 2017, the 5th Indoor Athletics & Martial Arts Games.
Qatar clinched another bronze in martial arts (taekwondo).
The gold was claimed by Qatar's 800m specialist Jamal Hairane, who did himself and the country proud as he ran with great vigour to pip the challengers at the post.
The 26-year-old Qatari, who trailed for the better part of the race, came up with a spirited burst in the end to finish first in 1:49.33secs, ahead of Sri Lankan Herath Ekanayaka (1:49.45) and Iranian Moradi Amir, who took the bronze medal with a time of 1:49.51secs.
An elated Hairane said,"I am really happy to come here and win the race. The atmosphere was very good, the people are friendly and the facilities really good. During the race, I did everything my coach had told me to so I want to thank him."
On winning the gold after a silver at the 2017 Asian Championships, and bronze at the 2014 Asian Games, the athlete said,"I have done it at last. I have got silver and a bronze. Now I have them all, so I am very, very happy to have won the gold medal."
On his tactic of finishing strongly in the final 100 metre stretch, Hairane termed it as his strength."That is my strength normally. In the semi-final, I led from the front and I wasn't happy. I did not feel comfortable, so in the final I went back to what I know best. Now everybody knows what my strength is."
Abdalelah Haroun, who had collected the men's 400m gold on Tuesday, once again returned to action, this time to anchor the men's 4x400m team to a silver medal. The Qatar quartret, which clocked 3:12.58secs, was edged by Pakistan (3:11.40). The bronze went to Thailand, who finished in 3:21.21secs.
The two bronze medals for Qatar came in the triple jump and taekwondo.
In the men's triple jump, Qatar's Ahmed Rashid Al Mannai leapt a best 15.99m. The gold was won by India's Arpinder Singh, who touched 16.21m, while Thailand's Pratchaya Tepparak (16.12) got silver.
Adding to the track athletes' delight was Qatar's taekwondo contender Ali al Araimi Juma, who though lost to Iran's Nazemi Erfan 15-28 (Round scores 3-3, 5-9, 7-16; Points Earned 10-20; Penalty 5-8) but got a bronze for making it to the semi-finals.
Ali had earlier defeated Korean Seyoung Kim 17-14 (3-0, 6-4, 8-10) in the quarter-final.
Speaking of his effort, Ali said,"I'm really happy about my fight today even if I didn't win. I did my best. I'm happy to win the bronze. I need to train more and I need more competition and with time I will get there."
On receiving a blow on his face, he said,"I took a hit to the face and it hurts a little but that's okay, it's a part of the game. It happens."
Qatar's Mohamat Allamine Hamdi, however, didn't have the rub of luck as he missed the podium by a whisker finishing fourth in the men's high jump. The 20-year-old scaled 2.18m, a shade behind Sri Lankan Manjula Wijesekara who jumped 2.21 to win the bronze medal.
The gold went to Syria's Majd Eddin Ghazal (2.26), who set the day's only new competition record in the men's events. The silver was claimed by Iran's Keyvan Zadeh Ghanbar (also 2.26).
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan topped the medals chart with six golds, one silver and three bronze medals as the curtain came down on the track and field events.
Next was India with five gold, two silver and one bronze, while Saudi Arabia was third with two gold and three silver.
The home crowd were roused when Turkmenistan athletes won their first track and field medal a bronze the in women's 4x400m relay after original winners Kazakhstan were disqualified for a lane infringement.
Consequently Thailand rose to first with a season's best time of 3:43.41 while China (3:47.35) and Turkmenistan (3:50.39) followed.
There was also drama in the men's 1500m final as India's Ajay Kumar Saroj and Iran's Moslem Niadoost fell just after the first bend. However, it did not faze Saroj, who went on to win gold in 3:48.67.
Sri Lanka's Gayanthika Artigala emerged as easy winner in women's 800m, finishing in 2:05.12, with second-placed Guiping Zhang of China more than two seconds slower (2:07.65).
China's Ka Bian won the women's shot put with a throw of 17.34m, which was much too good for Elena Smolyanova of Uzbekistan (15.60m).
Pakistan won their first medal in the competition's last event, the men's 4x400m relay, safely keeping Qatar at bay.
