21 Apr 2019
Doha, 21 April 2019. The 23rd Asian Athletics Championships taking place in Qatar begun on Sunday 21st April at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium. Aspire graduates and current student -athletes will be involved in the championships, being hosted in Qatar for the first time and is set to serve as a dress rehearsal for the IAAF World Athletics Championships scheduled for later this year in September/October.
On opening day Aspire student-athlete and world junior silver medalist Bassem Hemeida ran in the 400m hurdles heat and made it through to the final. Speaking after his race Hemeida said, “It was my first race in Khalifa, though we have trained here but competing is a totally different thing. My goal is to break the Asian junior record this year. My coach didn’t set the target for me, it is my personal motivation.” Another student-athlete Jaber Al Mamari ran a season best time in the 100m heat to reach the semi-final on Monday 22nd, giving himself a chance of making the final also scheduled on the same Monday night.
Aspire graduate, Nuh Andu will be partaking in the High jump qualification starting on Monday 22nd. Qatar dominated the 800m semi-final with Aspire graduate, Abubaker Abdalla joining Saeed Hassan and Jamal Hairane for the final also scheduled for Monday 22nd night. Abdalla eased to victory in 1:49:62 in the second semis.