Monday 16 / September / 2024
Muscat: Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) is hopeful that one or two more of its athletes will qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio in Brazil this year, for which Barakat Al Harthi has already qualified.
“Barakat is working hard; everyone in the Gulf is anticipating his qualification for the Olympics. I hope that he can continue with his training to break his record in Rio this year,” said Taha Al Kishri, secretary general of the OOC.
After Barakat’s glorious qualification for the Olympics, following his record 10.16 second time for the 100 metre event in the World Military Games in South Korea in October last year, Oman is hopeful of getting a couple of wild card entries in shooting, tennis, athletics and horse riding.
“In shooting, air pistol to be precise, Wadha Al Balushi stands a chance, whereas Sultan Al Touqi may make it in horse riding, Ahmed Al Marjibi hopes of qualifying in athletics and Shinoona Al Habsi has been replaced by Fatma Al Nabhani, the tennis player. Fatma has a positive chance to get a wild card entry.”
Al Balushi, Al Marjibi, Al Touqi and Al Habsi were supported by the Olympic Solidarity Scholarship provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), for which Oman had applied in June 2014.
The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to organise assistance for all the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), particularly those with the greatest need, through multi- faceted programmes prioritising athlete development, training for coaches and sports administrators, and promoting Olympic ideals.
According to Al Kishry, 29 records have been set by Omani sportspersons, which are very close to the ones set by the IOC, and IOC will not give more than three wild cards for each National Olympic Committee.
OOC is now preparing for the Summer Youth Olympics 2018 in Argentina and the Asian Beach games taking place in Vietnam in September this year.
“Last year, Oman topped the second Gulf Beach Games held in the State of Qatar, bagging 13 medals, seven golds, five silvers and one bronze. This is why Oman is focusing on the Asian Beach Games, because we are hopeful of winning medals.”
Oman is also planning ahead for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 as well, “We have discussed our plans with the committee and are waiting to see how many will qualify and later we will sit with the federations of different sports in Oman and advise them.”
However, Oman has made a decision to not take part in the Winter Olympics.
“We have taken a decision to not participate because we don’t have most of these sports, we don’t want to take part just to show that we are participating.”
“I hope that the Ministry of Sports Affairs in Oman and the government together help us to set up and work with the long-term programmes. After the Olympics gets over, we can prepare our athletes for 2020 and 2024, and we need to build long-term plans and work on them if we will aim for medals at the games.”
