Qatar’s Amro wants to break Asian record in free diving

Qatar’s Amro al-Hamad, who set two new GCC records in free diving inKalamata, Greece, last month, now wants to break the Asian record nextyear. “We will chase the Asian record (in free diving),” the Qatariathlete told Gulf Times on the sidelines of a press conference held onMonday at the Doha Marine Sports Club announcing his latest achievement.He was joined by the Club’s vice president, Salah al-Mannai. Al-Hamad set the new Qatar national record and the GCC record for freediving in two categories: 83m in Variable Weight and 94m in No Limit,making him the “deepest free diver in the GCC.”He will be preparing for at least a year to be fit for the challenge,and hopes to get all the support he needs. Besides aiming for a newAsian record, al-Hamad is also aiming to be the first GCC national tobreak the 100m marker in free diving next year. Al-Hamad’s journey ofsetting the new GCC records, recognised by AIDA (Internationale pour leDéveloppement de l’Apnée or the International Association forDevelopment of Apnea in English), started in 2015 in Kalamata.He said the previous GCC record did not hold for a long time sinceKuwaiti Ahmed al-Abbas managed to break it by 2m. “What we did this yearis we increased the margin, and break it by 11m, to make it harder forhim to reach it,” al-Hamad pointed out. “But at the same time I would begrateful if somebody from the GCC to actually break it because it willgive me the initiative to go back again and set it even further.”Asked why in Greece, he said the location has depth, good visibility, nounderwater currents, and with pristine conditions suitable for suchendeavour. About the timing of the event, al-Hamad noted that theyintentionally set it on September 19 to coincide with the His Highnessthe Emir’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Qatari free diver, who was wearing a suit bearing the ‘Tamim AlMajd’ image at that time, said he felt so proud in his achievement. “Iwas very happy, I don’t want to fail the people of Qatar.”“There is a lot of drastic preparations to do a three-minute dive, andit took months and years of training and experience to achieve this,” hestressed. “The training extended like a year to get in shape and itinvolved a lot of swimming pool trainings and external training camps.”Al-Hamad’s team also held a private camp in Spain from the beginning of June where he felt he was fit to do the challenge.