Category: Sports

Doha: Al Shamal registered a season-ending 1-0 win over Al Gharafa in Week 22 of 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Bayt Stadium on Sunday.

Al Shamals winner was scored by Younes Belhanda in 45+4 minute of the match and took the teams points tally to 25, which saw them finish the league championship in ninth place in the overall standings.

Al Gharafa ended up as the third best team with 44 points, while Al Wakrah with 38 points are fourth. The top four teams qualify for the Qatar Cup.

Al Shamal shocked their fancied rivals just before the half-time whistle as Belhanda at the top of the box moved the ball from his right to the left foxing three defenders before driving into the right corner of the net.

While Al Gharafa’s star Yacine Brahimi did excel with his individual brilliance later in the game, The Cheetahs could not succeed in breaking the Al Shamal defence.

Al Shamal ended the league with a total of six wins, seven draws and nine losses as against Al Gharafas 13 wins, five draws and four
defeats.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Doha: Coach of the Indonesian team Shin Tae-yong said he is hopeful about reaching the pinnacle of success and being qualified for the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024 after Uzbekistan clash scheduled on Monday at Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Stadium in the semi-finals of AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the match, Tae-yong said his team look forward to performing well in the tournament after being qualified for this critical stage, adding that there is one step away from triumph and qualification for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Indonesia made tremendous physical efforts in facing South Korea in the quarter finals and the match was marathonic, he said, affirming that the technical team conducted recovery exercises for the players ahead of tomorrows match.

All players eye writing the history and have great desire to maximize their efforts to reach the finals, Tae-yong stressed, acknowledging the challenging game with Uzbekistan, since the latter had succeeded in d
rubbing Saudi Arabia the title holder. He stated that Uzbekistan have high physical capability of staging rapid attacks, and subsequently Indonesia will hedge the bet and be wary of that to avoid mistakes on the defense line.

The focus will be on exploiting the chances primarily in middle of the pitch that has narrow scale of spaces.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Doha: April 27 – Chairman of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shotgun Committee Mohamed Wahdan praised the State of Qatar’s impressive hosting of the shotgun ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship 2024: the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifier, which wraps tomorrow.

The championship recorded the highest shooter participation record with 433 male and female shooters representing 82 countries.

Speaking to Qatar News Agency Wahdan congratulated Qatar for successfully hosting this very important tournament, which saw eight qualifications, adding that the championship broke a record in ISSF history in terms of the number of shooters participating.

The Chairman of ISSF Shotgun Committee praised the Lusail Shooting Club and the warm welcome and hospitality received, adding that this is not strange for the Qatar Shooting and Archery Association and that everything is running very smoothly with all parties happy, hoping that Qatar hosts even more international tournaments in the future.

Wahdan sa
id that ISSF did not receive any protests against the referees decisions, which comes to prove the high quality arbitration in place, with all shooters praising Qatari and foreign arbitration in the tournament.

Wahdan said that the International Olympic Committee instructed holding a new skeet finals arrangement, to include 8 shooters instead of 6, adding that before this could happen, it was imperative to try this arrangement out, leading the ISSF to decide to try this out in Doha, for the first time, which now will be subject of evaluation and consideration.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Doha: April 27 – Qatar International Junior Squash Open Championship concluded today with the participation of 113 international players at the Khalifa International Complex.

Organized by the Qatar Squash Federation, Kuwaiti player Qader Gul won the title of boys under 19 years event and his compatriot Khaled Al Fawzan won the title of boys under 17 years.

For the boys under 15 years competition, Jordanian player Osama Al Bataineh won the title, while the first place of the boys under 13 years was claimed by Chinese Liu Yuanxi. Kuwaiti Salman Al Saleh managed to win the title of boys under 11 years category.

The first-place winners in the various competitions were crowned by Secretary General of the Qatar Tennis, Squash, Padel and Badminton Federation Tariq Zainal, in the presence of Tournament Director Saad Al Mohannadi.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Doha: Muaither were relegated to the Second Division after losing 3-4 to Al Arabi in a thriller in Week 22 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday.

Omar Al Somah scored a brace (22nd minute penalty and 85th minute), while Abdullah Marafi added another one (77th minute) before an own goal from Muaithers Fouad Saleh (90+6 minute) gave The Dream Team the undeniable win.

Muaithers goals were scored by Denis Alibec (13th minute), Aymane El Hassouni (48th minute) and Tiago Leonco (79th minute).

The result ensured that Al Arabi finished the season in fifth place with 29 points, while Muaither, with their 14-point tally, were relegated.

Muaither thought they had got a dream start when Abdulrahman Rashed Juma overlapped from the left to beat goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail in the fifth minute of play, but the goal was overruled for offside.

Fighting a battle of their lives for survival in the top league, Muaither kept pressing hard and they were rewarded in the 13th minute when Ali
bec found the back of the net with a low left-footed shot from an assist by Nassim Benaissa.

Not to be outdone, Al Arabi upped their game thereafter and Al Somah got their equalizer from the spot in the 22nd minute after Mohamed Hassan Al Taabouni was fouled by Muaithers Hugo Gomes in the penalty area.

Muaither got their lead restored three minutes into the second half through Hassouni, who nodded home a brilliant cross from Andri Syahputra.

Marafie gave Al Arabi the equalizer in the 77th minute from a rebound before Leonco restored Muaither’s lead two minutes later after beating both the defense and the goalkeeper to a Moataz Bostami pass.

Al Somah once again came to the rescue of Al Arabi as he restored parity in the 85th minute before Muaithers Fouad Saleh extended The Dream Teams lead through an own goal in the sixth minute of added time after unwittingly driving a cross into his own net.

That was the last major action of the game as Al Arabi emerged victorious.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Qatar claimed 17 various medals (8 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze) on Sunday, as part of the first Gulf Youth Games hosted by the UAE until May 2, under the slogan “Our Gulf is One… Our Youth is Promising,” in 24 sports, with the participation of more than 3,500 male and female athletes.

The swimming team won 12 new medals (4 gold, 3 silver, and 5 bronze) out of the 17 medals, the bow and arrow team won 3 gold medals, the basketball team won the gold medal in the 3-on-3 basketball trios competition, and the karate team won a bronze medal.

With today’s medals, the Qatar delegation raised its medal tally in the first Gulf Youth Games to 66 various medals, 26 gold, 16 silver, and 24 bronze.

Qatar’s medals were distributed as 23 medals for swimming, 9 medals for athletics, including 2 medals for people with special needs, 7 medals for chess, 7 medals for bow and arrow, 6 medals for table tennis, 3 medals for taekwondo, 2 medals for boxing, 2 medals for cycling, 2 medals for karate, and one medal for each of equest
rian, jiu-jitsu, sailing, triathlon, and 3×3 basketball team.

Source: Qatar News Agency