Qatar’s Barrow out after brave effort

One of the young and upcoming Team Qatar athletes, Owaab Barrow, put up a credible effort in the men’s 100m preliminaries to make it to the heats on the first day of the Doha Worlds.The 18-year-old, who trains with coach Lee Christopher at the Aspire Academy, had to wait for all the preliminary rounds to conclude, after finishing third in the first in a personal best time of 10.64 seconds.Winner of the each preliminary round and five athletes with the fastest times were to reach the heats later in the evening, and his effort was good enough to send him through.“It was a good experience for me to run. I am still a first year junior and to run at the World Championships among the elite and top athletes is a great experience, even to be around them,” said Barrow, who had won 110m hurdles gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires last year, after his preliminary run.“It is my country, and I was focused on doing my best and running a personal best.”Talking about his year so far, he said, “This year has been about preparing and training for different competitions. We have been to South Africa and Germany, and we were just preparing for World Championships Doha 2019.”In the heats, however, Barrow pulled up past the halfway mark indicating a niggle, finishing in 12.82 seconds,  even as Brazilian sprinter Paulo André de Oliveira, silver medallist in the discipline at this year’s Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru, topped the field in a time of 10.11 seconds for a semi-final spot.Looking forward to what looks like a promising future, Barrow said, “Next year we have the World Juniors 2020 in Kenya, and let’s hope for the best.”