13 Feb 2023
Aspire Academy student-athlete Seif Hemeida won a silver medal in the pole vault at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, which ended on Sunday 12 February in Astana Kazakhstan.
The 17-year-old’s jump of 5.35 metres was a not only a personal but also broke the 25-year-old national record for Qatar, as he finished second behind Saudi Arabia’s Hussain Assem Al-Hizam.
Hemeida’s leap was 5cm higher than Ahmed Abdulkarim managed at an outdoor meeting on home soil in Doha in December 1998.
His medal was one of eight that Qatar won at the championships that included two golds, four silvers and two bronzes.
Hemeida's silver medal is the result of the co-operation and hard work between Aspire Academy and the Qatar Athletics Federation, as we all strive to develop world-class atheltes for Qatar.
One of the bronze medals was won by Aspire Academy graduate Musab Adam Ali as he finished third in the 1500m behind compatriot Mohamad Al-Garni, who won silver with Japan’s Kazuto Iizawa claiming the gold.
Hemeida’s silver was his first at senior level as he follows in his brother Bassem’s footsteps in claiming international medals for Qatar.
Bassem’s honours included a 400m hurdles silver medal at the Under-20 World Championships in 2018 and last year it was gold in the same event at the Covid-19 -delayed 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey.