Yousif Masrahi and Ahmed Khader Al-Mualad were among at least 17 Arab athletes who qualified for the London games after impressive performances in the recently concluded 12th Arab Games in Qatar.
Masrahi won a gold medal for the Kingdom after clocking 45.44 seconds in the 400-meter dash, while Al-Mualad topped the men's 110m hurdles by clocking 13.60 seconds.
A report in the official site of the 12th Arab Games showed that the other qualified athletes included champions from the following athletics and swimming events:
Ahmed Al-Murjaibi of Oman (400m – 45.84 seconds), Rabah Yousif of Sudan (400m – 45.87 seconds), Musab Abdulrahman Belah of Qatar (800m – 1.45.92 minute), Hassan Ayanlah of Djibouti (1,500m – 3.34.32 minutes), Hamza Drouich of Qatar (1,500m – 3.34.43 minutes), Mohammed Al-Qarni of Qatar (1,500m – 3.34.61 minutes), and Mutaz Barshem of Qatar (high jump – 2.30 m).
Oussama Al-Mellouli of Tunisia (400m medley, 4.15.94 seconds and 200m medley, 1.59.99 minutes), Sara El Bakri of Morocco (100m breaststroke – 1.08.42 minutes), and Yousif El Askari of Kuwait (100m butterfly – 54.00 seconds).
Al-Mellouli (Tunisia) has also qualified in six other events and Kuwait's El Askari has qualified in a second event but these still have to be confirmed by the international federation, the report said.
Confirmation is also needed for the other swimming event champions:
Tuqa Mubarak of Tunisia in the 400 medley and Wasim Oloumi of Tunisia (100m breaststroke).
Farida Osman of Egypt for the 100m butterfly and 50-m freestyle; Sara El Bakri of Morocco in 400m medley and 200 m breaststroke and 800-m freestyle; and Katya Bochrouchi of Lebanon in the 400m freestyle, 800 freestyle and 200 medley.
Saudi Arabia placed sixth overall in the 2011 Arab Games, which was topped by Egypt with a 90-gold medal harvest. Tunisia was second with 54 golds, followed by Morocco with 35, host Qatar with 32 and Algeria with 16 golds.
Kuwait placed seventh, followed by Bahrain with12 golds, including one in the prestigious football event which it won 1-0 against Jordan on the final day of the Games on Friday.
During the closing ceremonies at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium of Al-Sadd sport club on Friday, Qatar handed over the Arab Games flag to Lebanon, which will host the 13th Arab Games in 2015.
