Qatar’s 4x400m relay quartet of Ammar Ibrahim, Bassem Hemeida, Youssef Djibrine and Ismail Abakar celebrate on the podium.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar enjoyed a productive day at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 yesterday, collecting five medals as the men’s team trap shooters, 4x400m relay team and handball side won silver, while Abubaker Abdalla and Ouisal Ikhlef claimed bronze medals.
The haul took Qatar’s medal tally to 12, comprising three gold, five silver and four bronze, with the national team continuing to compete across several sports at the Games.
The day began with another medal for Qatar’s shooting team as Mohammed Al-Rumaihi, Saeed Hamad Abu Sharib and Angelo Scalzone secured silver in the men’s team trap event with 349 hits.
Qatar's Saeed Hamad Abu Sharib, Mohammed Al-Rumaihi and Angelo Scalzone celebrate with their medals.
Kuwait (355) won gold and Kazakhstan (348) took the bronze medal.
“We are delighted to win the silver medal and add another one to Team Qatar’s tally at the Games,” Al-Rumaihi said.
“The competition was intense from day one; we maintained our focus throughout the rounds.”
Abu Sharib said the medal was the result of teamwork and sustained concentration during the three-day competition.
“We are happy with this medal. The competition was tough and required maintaining a consistent level of performance,” said Abu Sharib, who qualified for trap individual final with 119 hits yesterday.
Qatar shooting team won team skeet and individual skeet golds earlier at the Games.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s women’s team of Kholoud Hassan Al-Khalaf, Ray Bassil and Maitha Hamad Al-Binali finished fourth with 324 hits, missing bronze by one target. China (346) claimed gold while India (328) secured silver with Kuwait (325) winning the bronze medal.
Athletes add two more medals
Qatar’s athletics team added two medals, with the 4x400m relay quartet of Bassem Hemeida, Ismail Abakar, Youssef Djibrine and Ammar Ibrahim taking silver in 3:00.93, their best time of the season.
Japan (3:00.75) clinched gold while India (3:01.61) finished third for a bronze medal. Hemeida had also claimed a gold in 400m hurdles on Monday.
Abdalla also produced a personal best of 1:45.25 to win bronze in the 800m. Another Qatari runner Hatem Hameed finished sixth in 1:46.41. The gold went to Japan’s Ko Ochiai (1:44.48) while Iran’s Ali Amirian (1:45.10) took silver in the event.
“I was aiming for the gold, but the competition was extremely tough,” Abdalla said. “I gave it my all to stand on the podium. Thank Allah I succeeded and won the bronze medal.”
Featuring in the men’s pole vault final, Qatar’s Seifeldin Abdelsalam finished sixth after clearing 5.50m with John Ernest Obiena (5.91) of the Philippines winning the gold.
Handball team settles for silver
In handball, Qatar’s three-time defending champions had to settle for silver after losing a closely fought final 33-32 to Bahrain.
Qatar's Amine Guehis shoots during the handball final.(PIC: Xinhua)
Qatar led the Asian Games title race in the previous three editions, winning gold at Incheon 2014, Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022. Bahrain claimed its first Asian Games gold in the sport after edging Qatar in a dramatic final.
Qatar trailed 16-15 at half-time and Bahrain built a four-goal lead in the second half. The defending champions fought back repeatedly but could not find the equaliser in the closing stages.
Japan defeated Republic of Korea 37-32 in the bronze medal match.
Ikhlef’s historic feat
Weightlifting provided Qatar’s fifth medal of the day, with Ikhlef taking bronze in the women’s +86kg category with a total lift of 273kg.
It was a first medal by a female Qatari weightlifter in history of the Asian Games.
Qatar's Ouisal Ikhlef competes during the women’s +86kg weightlifting final. (PIC: Xinhua)
China’s Li Wenwen won gold with 310kg, while Republic of Korea’s Park Hye-jeong took silver with 300kg.
Meanwhile, Qatar 1’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan beat Vietnam’s Lam Toi Nguyen and Van viet Tran 21-16, 21-9 to reach the beach volleyball quarter-finals, where they will face Iran’s Abbas Pouarasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab today.
Cherif and Tijan are defending the gold medal won by Qatar at the previous Asian Games, while Qatar 2’s Mousa Al-Khair and Ihab Mohamed exited after losing 2-0 to China’s Jinyang Song and Yanwei Wang in the Round of 16.
In volleyball, Qatar, who had already advanced to the quarter-finals, suffered a 3-2 defeat to India in their last Pool C match.
Qatar lead 28-26 and 27-25 before India bounced back winning the next three sets 25-23, 25-20 and 24-22 to seal victory. Al Annabi will meet hosts Japan for a place in the semi-finals tomorrow.
