Abderrahman Samba and Bassem Hemeida delivered a sensational 1-2 finish for Qatar in the men’s 400m hurdles at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on Saturday. Samba, the Asian record holder, clocked 48.00 seconds to take gold, while Hemeida surged late to claim silver in 49.44 seconds. Chung Wei Lin of Chinese Taipei earned bronze, just 0.203 seconds behind Hemeida. The duo repeated their gold-silver performance from last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Abubaker Haydar Abdalla added to Qatar’s medal tally with a bronze in the men’s 800m, clocking 1:45.20. Kuwait’s Ebrahim Alzofairi won gold in 1:44.59, followed by Iran’s Ali Amirian with silver in 1:44.97.
Qatar ended the competition on a high, finishing joint fourth with Kazakhstan in the overall standings, winning six medals: three gold, one silver, and two bronze. Samba had also led Qatar to victory in the men’s 4x400m relay alongside Hemeida, Hatim Aitoulaghazi, and Ammar Ismail Ibrahim. Earlier, Ibrahim had clinched Qatar’s first gold in Gumi in the men’s 400m final.
China topped the medal table with 32 medals (19 gold), followed by India (24 medals, 8 gold) and Japan (28 medals, 5 gold).
