(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Five promising Qatari athletes are likely to have a strong influence on proceedings at the Indoor Athletics Arena during the Ashgabat 2017 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.
Abdalelah Haroun, Tosin Joseph Ogunode, Abderrahman Samba, Yaser Salem Bagharab and Mahamat Allamine Hamdi have all performed impressively in recent months.
Haroun, a 400m specialist, won bronze a month ago at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London and a silver medallist at the IAAF Indoor World Championships in Oregon in the United States a year earlier.
Ogunode, younger brother of four-time Asian Games gold medallist Femi Ogunode, made his international sprinting debut in 2014 and set a 60m Asian indoor record during an event at the Northern Arizona University in the USA.
The 23-year-old's time of 6.50 seconds broke a 20-year-old mark set by Qatari sprint legend Talal Mansour and is a top contender for 60m gold at Ashgabat.
Samba, 22, has also enjoyed a good season this year. He started by winning the 400m hurdles title at the season-opening Doha Diamond League and went on to contest the 400m hurdle final at the 2017 World Championships in London. In Ashgabat, he will take part in the 400m and 4 x 400m relay and will be a firm medal favourite.
Baghrab may be a teenager and the youngest in the Qatari indoor athletics squad, but the 19-year-old, who recently won two silver medals at the 2017 Asian Championships, will be a strong chance to round off his season with a podium finish in the 3,000m at Ashgabat.
Completing the list is high jumper Hamdi, whose silver-medal-winning performance at the recent Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, marks him as an emerging talent. The 20-year-old also won a bronze at the 2016 IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
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