PARIS, 22 November 2006 — Saudi Arabia is banking on its strong athletics squad to bring home a clutch of medals from the 15th Asian Games that get under way in Qatar next month.
Surprisingly, the Kingdom is not sending a football team for a competition it would have had a good chance of winning.
The football Gulf Cup of Nations starts in the United Arab Emirates in January and it is thought the squad is being saved in a bid to regain the Gulf crown it ceded last year to Qatar. In the last Asian Games in Busan four years ago, Saudi Arabia won seven golds, one silver and one bronze for 11th place in the overall medal standings.
It was in track and field that it went beyond all expectations, snagging five golds and one silver.
Ahead of this year’s event, the Saudi squad has been sent to train with US coaching guru John Smith, whose stable includes the likes of sprinters Maurice Greene and Leonard Scott, and 110m hurdler Allen Johnson.
“We want to repeat what we did in Busan, or even surpass it,” said Prince Nawaf ibn Mohammed, president of the Saudi Athletics Federation.
“Don’t be surprised if we do it,” he warned. “Athletics will be our main focus.” Mashed Al-Otaibi was a double gold medal winner in Busan, winning the 5000m and 10,000m titles. But Otaibi picked up an injury last month and his place on the plane for Doha is not a given.
While Prince Nawaf prepares to blood some new youngsters in Qatar, there is a wealth of experience also making the trip.
Long jumper Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi, the Asian indoor champion and record holder with 8.44m, has been a consistent performer on the European circuit this season and looks set to continue his fine form.
After placing second in the world athletics final in Stuttgart and third at the World Cup in Athens, both in September, the world-ranked No. 6 is a shoe-in to take up compatriot Hussein Al-Saba’s mantle as Asian champion.
800m runner Mohammed Al-Salhi clocked an impressive personal best of 1min 43.99sec in Rome in July but his event is crowded with some of the world’s top talent.
Salhi, 20, who finished fourth in the Asian Championships in Incheon last year, will likely be up against reigning world 800m and 1500m champion Rashid Ramzi, the Morocco-born runner now competing for Bahrain.
Other athletes expected to compete in the two-lap race are Bahrain’s teammates Belal Mansoor Ali and Kamel Youssef Saad, formerly the Kenyans John Yego and Gregory Konchellah, as well as Kuwaiti Mohammed Al-Azemi, who won the Doha Grand Prix in May and went on to claim the Bislett Games crown in Oslo.
And then there is the competition from Bahrain’s neighboring Gulf state Qatar, with its raft of imported and equally talented runners, spearheaded by Majed Saeed Sultan, also a former Kenyan known as Elijah Kosgei.
In the shorter distances, Hamdan Obah Al-Bishi looks good for the 400m.
The twice-Olympic semifinalist, dubbed the new Michael Johnson after sealing the world juniors gold in Chile in 2000, will be looking to go one better than his Busan outing four years ago. Bishi is not to be confused with Hamed Hamdan Al-Bishi, the Asian champion from 2005 who will go in the 200m and who has this year clocked a best of 20.97sec.
Saudi Arabia is also making solid progress in weightlifting and swimming, and is expected to push for podium places in equestrian endurance and dressage events.
