Femi Ogunode, the fastest man in Asia, will spearhead Qatar’s challenge in the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships to be held in the Indian city of Bhubaneswar from July 6 to 9.
Ogunode set an Asian record of 9.93 seconds in the 100m at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, and improved it to 9.91 seconds at the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships in Wuhan, China where he also won the 200m.
Ogunode came into prominence at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou by winning the gold in the 100m and 400m thus becoming only the second athlete in Games history to have won both events at the same competition – Milkha Singh first achieved this feat at the 1958 Asian Games.
Ogunode’s younger brother, Tosin, is also in the Qatar squad and will be competing in the sprints.
Mutaz Barshim, Qatar’s two-time Olympic medallist, will be missing the Asian Championships as he is preparing for the IAAF World Championships to be held in London in August.
Middle distance runners Mohamed Hasan and Jamal Hairan, steeplechasers Hashim Salah and Yaser Mubarak, javelin thrower Ahmed Bedeer and discus thrower Maaz Ibrahim and 400m hurdles sensation Abdulrahman Samba are the other members of the squad.
Secretary-General of the Qatar Athletics Federation Mohamed Issa Fadhala is the head of the Qatar delegation.
Qatar finished second in the 2015 event in Wuhan with 15 gold medals while Qatar were second with seven and India third with four.

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