07 Jun 2023
Aspire Academy athlete Oumar Doudai Abakar won silver for Qatar in the 110m hurdles on the final day of the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in Yecheon, South Korea.
Doudai, who is coached by Aspire Academy’s Lee Christopher, recovered from a slow start in the final on Wednesday to clinch silver behind Chinese Taipei’s Yuan Kai Hsieh.
His time of 13.68 seconds was a new personal best, which he ran despite sustaining a minor hamstring injury in the heats.
In the same final Aspire Academy student-athlete Nayef Al-Rashidi, who is also coached by Lee Christopher and races for Al Sadd SC, was initially given fifth place but was later disqualified for a false start.
The silver took Qatar’s medal tally at the 20th edition of the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships to five in total.
Doudai’s brother Ismail (Al Sadd SC, Hennie Kotze), who trains with the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF), won gold in both the 400m and 400m hurdles to go with the one claimed by Seif Hemeida in the Pole Vault on the opening day.
The other medal won at the championships was a silver for QAF’s Djibrine Adoum Ahmat (Al Ahli SC, Leonid Cherevko) in the shot put.
"Congratulations to Qatar Athletics Federation and Aspire Academy's coaches on some exceptional performances in Yecheon," Aspire's Head Athletics Coach Tom Crick said at the conclusion of the championships.
"Qatar finishing the competition with 3 Golds and 2 Silver medals is a testament to the hard work day in and day out from coaches, officials and support staff throughout the 2023 season."
"Oumar sustained a minor injury during his run in the heats and the team had to make a call during warm-up on whether he should start the final race. The team took the right decision and he produced a personal best as he won his silver."
"Nayef Al-Rashidi also produced a personal best run when it mattered in the final as he was initially shown in fifth place as he broke the 14 seconds barrier. Unfortunately, analysis of his reaction time showed that he had a very minor false start - so small that it wasn't noticed by officials at the time. So while he was disqualified it shows he has more to come in the future."
"These performances in Korea are very positive for Qatar ahead of next year's World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Peru."
"Seif's performance in Yecheon was nothing short of exceptional. A new personal best, two new Qatar national records in one day and the championship record too. Congratulations to his coach Pawel and the entire Qatar support team."
"He now has a long summer of competitions to consolidate his improvement, ahead of the World Under-20 Championships next year."
The medals won by Hemeida (who studies at Aspire Academy and is trained by QAF’s Pawel Szczyrba) and Oumar Doudai (who trains at the Academy and studies elsewhere) is further testimony to the strength of the partnership between the QAF and the academy.