Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Seifeldin Mohamed Abdelsalam produced a dominant performance to win the men’s pole vault gold medal at the inaugural Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China, yesterday.
The 21-year-old cleared 5.45 metres to secure the title, finishing ahead of China’s Rui Liu, who took silver with a best effort of 5.20m. Kazakhstan’s Maxim Balabin completed the podium after clearing 5.05m, a personal best.
Abdelsalam was flawless throughout the competition, clearing 5.20m, 5.35m and the winning height of 5.45m on his first attempts. After confirming the gold medal, the Qatari raised the bar to 5.76m in an attempt to improve his mark, but could not clear the height in three attempts.
Liu cleared 5.05m and 5.20m on his second attempts before bowing out after failing to negotiate 5.35m, while Balabin cleared 5.05m before exiting the competition at 5.20m.
The victory marked another promising achievement for Qatar’s young athletics talent, with Abdelsalam leading the national team’s challenge at the first edition of the continental U23 championship.
Qatar are competing in Ordos with a group of promising athletes across several events, including Ahmed Jabreen (shot put), Khaled Hussein Sabaki (400m and 4x400m relay), Zakaria Ibrahim (3000m steeplechase and 1500m), Hatem Hamid (800m and 4x400m relay), Salah Younis (100m), Omar Daoud (110m hurdles), Abdulrahman Mohammed (400m hurdles and 4x400m relay) and Mubarak Abdulkarim (400m and 4x400m relay).
