By ARMSTRONG VAS
Doha: Qatar Club and Qatar national team won silver and bronze respectively in the Kumite team event at the Qatar Karate International Championship at the Al Sadd Indoor Stadium, here yesterday.
The first and second place for the local Karatekas capped a fine performance for the hosts at the two-day championship which concluded yesterday
Qatar had a memorable championship with a rich haul of medals in both the individual and team event, which saw the participation of Karatekas from eleven countries.
On the first day of the championship on Friday, Qatar bagged three bronze medals while Qatar Club won one bronze medal.
Qatar Club finished the championship in the fifth spot with one silver and one bronze each, followed by Qatar national team with four bronze medals.
Yesterday, Qatar Club team comprising of Rami Albana, Abdul Rahman, Karim Hassain, Youssef Zerdeb and Outmane Tabakouyat finished second in the Kumite team event.
Earlier, Qatar national team comprising of Abdul Aziz Dallul, Abdullah Dallul, Qasim Qawaidal, Abdullah Shalwan, Ibrahim Al Zubaydi and Al Yasin bagged bronze along with Tunisia in the same category.
Egypt won gold in the Kumite team event.
The Egyptian, Karatekas who came close to making a clean sweep in the individual events on the first day continued the good show on the second day to bag the top honours in the team event.
On Friday, Egypt won five gold medals out of a possible six medals. The Egyptians won gold in Kata, -67, -75, -84 and 84 categories on the first day. Tunisia prevented a clean sweep by winning the -60 weight category, to add to the two bronze medals they had won at the championship to finish second.
Qatar Karate Federation (QKF) President, Khalid bin Hamad Al Atiya said the results from the championship were very encouraging.
“To bag four bronze and one silver is a good thing for us. The boys gave their best. The experience gained from the championship will come handy for them in the other international tournaments that our players seek to participate in the near future.”
The QKF President Al Atiya said they are looking forward to hosting more championship in the coming years to promote karate talent in Qatar.
“This championship is just the start and hopefully many more will follow. We are looking forward to host more tournaments in the near future. The championship is a learning process of all of us at the federation, players and referees,” added Al Atiya. The QKF chief said the federation aims to make the sport more popular in Qatar.
“The sport is fast catching up the young generations and many karate clubs who are registered with QKF have been working hand in hand to spread the game through Qatar.”
Qatar coach Ian Cole was also happy with the results and the overall performance of the boys.
“I am delighted with the results. We have a short time to practice. But the boys rose to the occasion and delivered. As I told earlier, our team is a mixture of youth and experience, so this championship was a good learning experience for the young boys. And, we need to build on the success, this is just the beginning of the long journey,” said Cole.
Saudi Arabia and Algeria finished in the third place with an identical haul of two silver medals and three bronze. England and UAE also finished with medals.
Players from England, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Sudan, Morocco and Qatar took part in the championship.
The winner in each category got 550 euros, while the second place finisher collected 300 euros.
THE PENINSULA
