22 Jun 2025
Aspire Academy graduate Abdulla Al Tamimi made history as he secured the silver medal at the 23rd Asian Individual Squash Championships in Kuching, Malaysia.
By reaching the final, the 30-year-old created history by becoming the first Qatari player to reach that stage of the championships, as he was narrowly beaten in Saturday’s final in Malaysia.
In the early rounds, the top seed at the event, overcame Jassim Alghareeb of Kuwait, South Korea’s Jooyoung Na, Malaysia’s Ameeshenraj Chandaran and Hong Kong’s Henry Leung on his way to the final.
He took on Hong Kong's second seed, Alex Lau, in the final and lost a very hard-fought match 14-12, 13-11, 11-9.
Despite the loss, Al Tamimi’s performance marked another significant milestone for him, not only as the first Qatari finalist at the Asian Championships but also as just the second player from the Gulf region to achieve this feat, following Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Muzayen, who was runner-up in 2013 and 2015.
Abdulla Al Tamimi is also the first Qatari player to be ranked in the World Top 20 by the Professional Squash Association, and has a career-high ranking of 16, achieved in October 2023.