25 Jul 2016
Bydgoszcz, 25 July 2016. Aspire Academy student-athlete Moaaz Mohamed Ibrahim capped a stellar athletics season by winning gold in the discus throw at the IAAF World U-20 Championship held in Poland from 19-24 July. It is Moaaz’s third gold medal in top competition this season. The Aspire Academy student begun his gold rush with a solid performance at the Arab Junior Championship held in Algeria from 5-8 May where he claimed double gold in shot put and discus respectively. Moaaz’s gold winning throw was measured at 62.13m and was world leading junior throw in all IAAF Junior 2016 competitions.
Moaaz’s stage of operation was the 17th Asian Junior Athletic Championships in Vietnam held from 3-6 June in Ho Chi Minh City. Moaaz claimed his second discuss gold in style by breaking the 15 year-old championship record of 60.14m set by Wu Tao of China, with a throw of 60.49m to win the men’s discus throw final. After setting a new championship record his sights were firmly on the 16th IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland with the prospects of notching an unprecedented hat-trick of gold medals. And so in Poland he arrived and with his first throw, he set a new Qatar national record, 63.63m. His other throws didn’t count but that first one was good enough to win gold and make it three golds for Moaaz, the goal had been achieved. After the win Moaaz told the media, “I am thankful to Aspire Academy, Qatar Athletics Federation, my coaches and all who stood by me. It’s an amazing feeling and this is not the last time you will see me, next year l will surprise you all” said an elated Moaaz.
Indeed Moaaz’s potential and talent is just budding and like he said we are certainly going to hear more from this young man. Earlier this year, (2016) Moaaz had the opportunity to learn and take advice from current (2016) World Indoor Shot Put bronze medalist and (2015) European U23 champion, Croat, Filip Mihaljevic when he was at Aspire Academy for training. At the time Moaaz said of his time with Mihaljevic, “He is a top athlete who is improving his distances all the time he competes and l hope time spent with him will have a similar effect on me. I am targeting medals at both Asian and World Junior Championships this year”. Moaaz has managed to meet his set target but this is only the beginning but what a year it has been for the Aspire Academy student.