DOHA, 10 December 2006 — The individual and team qualifying rounds in equestrian’s show jumping event have been rescheduled for today from yesterday. But Saudi Arabia will be looking to mine more gold in athletics and cap their amazing performance in bowling with a possible gold medal in the men’s Masters event.
To spearhead the Kingdom’s bid in equestrian are experienced riders who will pit skills against such favored teams as Korea, Japan and Qatar. Sydney 2000 Olympics bronze medalist Khaled Al-Eid, 35, is expected to lead the Saudi challenge in the event. The other team members are Prince Abdullah ibn Miteb, Kamal Bahamdan and Abdullah Sharbatly.
The Kingdom have won entries in the men’s decathlon but only Saad Al-Bishi, 17, will start in the heats of the 10-event competition after Mohammad Al-Qaree, 19, was ruled out due to injury after making the trip to Doha.
Hadi Soaan Al-Somayli, 30, will see action in the men’s 400m hurdles final where he will attempt to break his own Asian record of 47.53 second which he established during the Sydney Games. Teammate Bander Sharhaeli, 19, is entered in the same race. A possible gold is in store for Saudi Arabia in the 400 meters final where Hamdan Al-Bishi, 25, qualified fastest in the 1st round on Friday.
Mohammed Shaween, 20, in the men’s 1,500 meters and Mubarak Al-Dawodi and Saad Al-Baqme in men’s discus throw are the other Kingdom bets to contest the finals of their respective events.
Hamed Al-Bishi, Hamdan’s cousin, is participating today in the men’s 200m 1st round heat.
“I’ve been training for so long for the Asian Games 2006 that I only saw my family twice in Ramadan and until now,” said the 26-year old Hamed who won the gold in the same race in the Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon, Korea in 2005 and shared the gold as part of the 4X400m relay team in the Busan Games.
“I was training in Abu Dhabi and other countries. I hope I can get a medal.”
After the first block of eight games to determine the Masters stepladder final, brothers Bader and Hassan Al-Sheikh are in contention in 14th and third respectively.
After their heavily losing against Japan, the water polo team will meet China today at Al-Sadd Aquatic Center.
Yousef Al-Wadi, 22, battles Japanese Satoshi Kawabata in 9-ball pool-singles round of 32 at Al-Sadd Multi-Purpose Hall.
The men’s ream Sprint Qualifying in track cycling gets going at Aspire Hall with the Saudi trio of Ayman Al-Habriti, Bader Al-Yasin, and Ahmed Al-Assiri in action.
In Greco-Roman wrestling, Ghali Al-Matrafi, 23, will go up against Syrian Hussam Al-Najm in the men’s 67kg 1/16 final at the Qatar Sports Club Indoor Hall.
