Jamal Hairane left his rivals shell-shocked with his pace in the men’s 800m final to pick up Qatar’s second gold at the Asian Indoor Athletics and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, yesterday.
On a big day for Qatar, Qatari men’s 4x400m relay team also won a silver, while Rashid al-Mannai (triple jump) and Ali al-Arami (taekwondo) added a bronze medal each to the haul.
On Tuesday, Abdalelah Haroun had picked up Qatar’s first gold medal of the competition winning the men’s 400m event setting a Games record.
Hairane had trailed for the better part of the men’s 800m final before he surged past Indunil Herath Ekanayaka of Sri Lanka and Amir Moradi of Iran in the last 50m to take gold in 1:49.33.
“I am really happy to come here and win the race. The atmosphere was very good here, the people are friendly and the facilities are really good. In the race I just did everything my coach told me to so I want to thank him,” Hairane said after the win.
“That (finishing strong in the final 100m) is my strength normally. In the semi-final I led from the front and I was not happy, I did not feel comfortable so in the final I went back to what I know best. Now everybody knows what my strength is.
“I have done it at last. I have got silver and bronze, now I have them all, so I am very, very happy to have won the gold medal,” he said, referring to winning silver at the 2017 Asian Championships and bronze at the 2014 Asian Games.
A little under 90 minutes later, Hairane got together with Haroun, Mohamed Abbas and Ali al-Jassim, to bring home a silver in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Quartet of Asad Iqbal, Mehboob Ali, Nishat Ali and Nokar Hussain won Pakistan’s first medal in the competition in a time of 3:11.40, while Qatar finished in 3:12.58, ahead of third-placed Thailand (3:21.21).
A 15.99m effort on his final attempt ensured Qatar snared another medal on the day when al-Mannai won bronze in the triple jump event.
India’s Arpinder Singh had stayed on top of the sheets with his third attempt of 16.21m and eventually picked up gold.
Thailand’s Pratchaya Tepparak, who had stayed in second spot throughout with 15.89m from his second attempt, did better with 16.12m on his final jump but it was good enough for a silver.
Al-Araimi won a bronze medal in the men’s -80kg category in the taekwondo competition at the Asian Indoor Athletics and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat’s Taekwondo DanceSport Arena yesterday.
Al-Araimi began with a 17-12 win in the Round of 16 contest against Tahiti’s Remuela Tinirau yesterday.
He followed it up with a quarter-final 17-14 victory over Korea’s Seyoung Kim, ensuring a bronze medal in the process for his country.
In the semi-finals contest, al-Araimi went down 15-28 against the eventual champion Erfan Nazemi of Iran.
“I’m really happy about my fight today even if I didn’t win. I did my best. I’m happy to win bronze. I need to train more and I need more competition and, with time, I will get there,” al-Araimi said after his semi-finals loss.
“I took a hit to the face and it hurts a little but it’s okay, it’s part of the game and it happens.”