Qatar Volleyball Team Start Asian Games Campaign on Monday

Jakarta, August 20 (QNA) - Qatar national volleyball team, winners of Asian Cup, will start their Asian Games campaign with a game against the Maldives on Monday evening. Qatar won the 2018 Asian Men's Volleyball Cup after defeating their Iranian counterparts 3-2 in the final game. The Qataris won several individual prizes in the Asian Cup, as Mohamed Ibrahim won the most valuable player of the tournament and best middle blocker, Renan won the best outside spiker, and Mubarak Hamad won the best opposite award. Qatar play in Group F in the Asian Games along with India, Maldives, and Hong Kong. The Qataris keen on winning their first match to be a starting point for a successful campaign at the Asian Games. Also, Qatar national handball team will start their campaign on Monday with a match against Iraq, in their first match of the main round. Qatar are in Group A alongside with Iraq, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Group B consists of Iran, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Bahrain. The Qatari team seeks to beat Iraq to improve its chances of qualifying for the semi-final ahead of Qatar tough matches against Japan and Saudi Arabia. In the rowing competitions, Qatar's Tala Abu Jabara came in the third place, with recorded a time of 9 minutes 28 seconds and 28 percent of the second, in the first races held in the sports village of Palembang on Sunday. Tala insisted that she will perform at her best on Monday's race in order to qualify for the final round. Qatari swimmers made good results in the swimming competitions in the Asian Games 2018 despite not qualifying for the final races, as Abdulaziz Al Obaidli made a new Qatari record from the 15-17 years age group in the 100m back of 1,02.28 minutes while the previous figure was 1,03.03 minutes. Firas Al Saidi achieved a new personal record in the 200 meters free of 2,01.59 minutes while the previous number was 2,05.13 minutes. Youssef Mohamed also scored a new personal record in the 200m free with a time of 2,06.28 minutes as his previous record was 2,08.30 minutes. Hassan Al Obaidan also participated in the 100m back and finished the race with a time of 1,08.62 minutes. The swimming competitions will continue on Monday with the participation of Noah Al Khulaifi, and Abdul Aziz Al Obaidli in the 50m back race and Abdul Rahman Mohammed in the 200m race. In wrestling competition (74 kg), Qatar's Abdulrahman lost against Kazakhstan's Daniyar Kaisanov in the round of 16. Meanwhile, Qatari boxing team will arrive in Jakarta on Monday to prepare for the competitions, which start on Friday. In beach volleyball competitions, Qatar A team will play Kazakhstan on Monday in the first match in the group stage. Qatar B lost 2-0 against Thailand in the first match in the first round. Also, Qatari tennis player Mubarak Shannan has been knocked out of the competition after losing 6/4 6/3 to Thailand's Palaphoom Kovapitukted and Qatar's Jabor Al Mutawa was also eliminated after losing 6/2 6/4 to Hong Kong's Wong Hong. In the tennis men's doubles, Shannan and Al Mutawa were defeated by Philippian's duo Francis Alcantara and Jeson Patrombon 6/3 6/4. Moreover, Qatar's shooting men and women teams will continue their competitions on Monday at the shooting range at the Olympic sports village in Palembang. (END)