30 May 2021
Doha. Aspire Academy student-athlete, Elhafez Madani Mahdi qualified for the world junior championships – Kenya 2020 during his participation at 2021 Doha Diamond League meeting that took place on Friday 28 May night at Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium. It was a beautiful night during which six world leads and three meeting records were set under lights in Doha. Aspire Academy had a presence at the meeting with both graduates and current student-athletes competing.
Aspire graduate and world high jump champion, Mutaz Barshim cleared 2.30m to come second behind winner IIya Ivanyuk of Russia who jumped 2.33m. Speaking after his event, Mutaz said,” l am satisfied with my performance tonight. “It was good, not so good, but I’ ll say okay. My target is definitely Olympics in Tokyo so I will be working for the next competition. My target for Tokyo is to win, not necessarily to break a record, but to win,” said Barshim.
In the men’s 100m B race, another Aspire Academy graduate, sprinter, Owaab Barrow ran 10.26 sec to finish third while student-athletes, Mahamat Khalid Zakaria and Saeed Alabsi came 6th and 7th respectively in the same race. Meanwhile in the 800m B race, student- athlete, El Hafez Mahdi clocked 1:50.73 in a competitive field of international athletes to earn his ticket to Kenya for the U-20 world championships. In the 400m Hurdles , graduate Muhannad Saifeldin’s time of 53:06 earned him a5th place while another graduate, Musab Adam Ali ran a credible time of 3:36.96 in a race packed with international stars and won by Kenyan and world champion, Timothy Cheruiyot who set a world lead time. In the B race for men’s 400m event, student-athlete Abdelmadjid Mohadjirran a time of 48:91 to complete a commendable Aspire Academy presence at the Doha 2021 Diamond League meeting. Spectators were not present due to strict COVID-19 protocol but athletes still provided and produced some thrilling competition.