Al-Tamimi’s exit causes heartbreak in Qatar camp

Qatar stayed in the hunt for a medal in handball, 3x3 basketball, volleyball and beach volleyball but suffered the heartbreak of seeing Abdulla al-Tamimi crash out in the quarter-finals of the squash tournament at the Asian Games yesterday.While Qatar, who have already entered the semi-finals in handball, beat Japan 24-17 in their last main round group match, the spikers proved they were not too far behind with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-18) win over Hong Kong in their Pool F encounter.In beach volleyball, the Qatar pair of Cherif Samba and Ahmed Janko sailed through to the quarter-finals with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) victory over Kazakhstan’s Alexey Kuleshov and Alexander Babichev.They will now clash with the Iranian duo of Arash Vakili and Bahman Salimiinjehboroun in the last 8 today in Palembang. The Iranians had accounted for Japan’s Yuya Ageba and Katsuhiro Shiratori 21-18, 21-15 in the last 16.In 3x3 basketball, Qatar beat Jordan 21-7 but later were shocked by Japan 21-15.But while there were plenty of positives for Qatar yesterday, al-Tamimi’s defeat to Malaysia’s Mohamed Nazifwan would surely be difficult to stomach.Al-Tamimi was the flag-bearer of the contingent at the opening ceremony and plenty was expected of him, considering the fact he had won the Malaysian Open a few weeks ago and broken into the top 30 of the world rankings.The 23-year-old showed tremendous resolve to stay in the match after losing the first two games but three straight errors in the fifth and deciding game allowed his Malaysian opponent to wrap up the match 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 5-11, 11-9.Top officials of the Qatar Olympic Committee, including second vice-president Dr Thani al-Kuwari, secretary-general Jassim al-Buanain, and director of sports Khalil al-Jabir were in attendance at the match.“I had my chances but unfortunately couldn’t capitalise on them, congratulations to Nazifwan,” al-Tamimi said.“It was a tough encounter but once I drew level at two games all it was anybody’s game. However, my opponent played the big points better,” the Qatari added.Meanwhile, Qatar will take on South Korea in the semi-finals of the handball tournament on August 27 after they topped their pool in the main round with three wins out of three.The prolific Anis Zouaoui was once again the star for Qatar with six goals, while Bertrand Roine had five and Moustafa Heiba four. Alaeddin Berrached and Rafael Capote scored three each.For Japan, Hozuki Higashinagahama top-scored with six, while Hiroki Motoki had five.Qatar are the defending champions in handball at the Asian Games besides being the winners of Asian Cup three times in a row.Today, rally and shooting ace Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah will be seen in action in the individual skeet competition in Palembang.Al-Attiyah, who has a team gold at the Asian Games and also an individual silver and bronze, will be aiming for his first individual gold in what is his seventh Asian Games.“I am really excited to be participating in my seventh Asian Games. I hope to cap it with an excellent show. The gold, of course, will be fantastic,” he said.