Tokyo: Oman’s experienced marksman, Hamed al Khatri, will arrive in Tokyo on Monday as second athlete from the Sultanate’s delegation after Issa’s arrival last week in the Olympic Village. This will be second successive Games participation for Khatri after his debut in Rio Olympics 2016.
The national shooting team will comprise Al Khatri’s head coach, Sultan al Rushaidi and the administrative member Sulieman al Hinai. The arrival of all Oman’s athletes will be completed on Wednesday as sprinters Barakat al Harthy and Mazoon al Alawi and weightlifter Amer al Khanjari will join the delegation in the Olympic Village.
An intensive training programme will be arranged for Al Khatri at Asaka Shooting Range ahead of his action on August 2 in the 50m rifle three position men's qualification round. The preparatory programme for shooter Khatri will be for six days under full technical supervision of the experienced national head coach Sultan al Rushaidi.
The national shooting team’s efforts succeed to obtain a special permit from the organising committee and the technical team organisers to have more training sessions for a period of six days ahead of the official competition. These few days will assist Khatri to fully adapt with the shooting range which is new for him. He will seek to register new records and raise the Sultanate’s flag in this top showpiece event.
OSA CHEERS FOR ISSA
The national team swimmers, head coaches and the technical experts in the Oman Swimming Association (OSA) encouraged swimmer Issa to show his best on Tuesday. Issa’s teammate swimmers, through virtual meeting held remotely, congratulated him for being the flag bearer during the opening ceremony. Also, they wished good luck and all the best for the Sultanate’s delegation and athletes to show their best performance in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Mohammed al Sahli, technical expert in OSA, appreciated the top efforts made by Issa and his Japanese coach Kusanagi Kenta at Chukyou University to prepare for the Olympics Games. “Reaching to the Olympics requires hard work from any athlete. Daily attendance in the trainings, learning from mistakes, continuous development on the personal technical level and registering new records will act as supporting tools to qualify in the top swimming events and to accomplish top achievements for the nation,” he said.
ANTI-DOPING OFFICER
Shoaib al Zadjali, acting Secretary General of Oman Anti-Doping Committee, is one of the active Sultanate delegation member in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as he was appointed as anti-doping station officer in different Olympic venues. Shoaib’s selection for this position came after long experience and hard work from his side during the past years. This is the fourth presence of Sohar man in the Olympic Games after successful attendance in Beijing 2018, London 2012 and Rio 2016. Besides to that, Al Zadjali also attended the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia and he took part in Olympic Winter Games in South Korea and Asian Games in Qatar and Indonesia.
The national experienced man in anti-doping has huge technical experience in this field due to his various participations in different international courses, programmes and workshops organised through the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). He managed to enhance his experience in the required expertise after continuous attendance at tournaments and sporting events. Earlier, Shoaib was the officer for anti-doping in many top sports events and then he progressed as supervisor for the officers of the sample collection.
Commenting on his responsibilities in Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Shoaib said: ”I am very glad to attend in this top global event for the fourth consecutive time. Attending in these world class sporting events will assist to enhance the right technical experience and learn more from the top expertise who are available from different part of the world. Reaching to this position was not an easy step and I was among many candidates and we all competed through written exams and virtual interviews. Then, I have been selected for the Olympics and Paralympics Games as well.,” he added.
Mentioning his main duties, Al Zadjali said: ”We are having a lot of responsibilities and tasks especially during this exceptional period of Covid-19 pandemic. Writing daily reports, supervising all the anti-doping officers, monitoring the athletes and adherence to all the anti-doping regulations and taking precautionary measures and circulating the tasks among the team are the main responsibilities. I will be in Tokyo for 49 days and it is a proper period to gain the required experience for the experts,” he said.
Shoaib al Zadjali concluded his statement by sending special thanks to the Oman Olympic Committee and Oman Anti-Doping Committee for their support to him in attending in these top sporting events. “I would like to thank as well all the international, regional and continental anti-doping agencies for their confidence in me and I hope to deliver the required performance in my position,” he ended.
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