MUSCAT, FEB 11
Oman’s Olympian sprinter Ali bin Anwar al Balushi secured a slot at the 20th World Athletics Indoor Championships which will be held from March 21 to 23 in Nanjing, China, after winning the Men’s 60m Final at the Meeting de Paris Indoor at the World Indoor Athletics (Tour Silver). Al Balushi managed to end the race in 6.53 seconds to take the gold on Monday.
Reynier Mena of Cuba claimed the silver medal in 6.57 seconds while Mamadou Fall Sarr from Senegal captured bronze after he clocked 6.59 seconds. The French sprinters including Meba Mickael Zeze and Jeff Erius finished in the fourth (6.65 seconds) and fifth (6.68 seconds) positions respectively.
In the last month, Ali al Balushi had claimed silver medal in the Men’s 60 Metres event at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakhstan. His victory came in the golden category after he finished the race distance in 6.60 seconds.
The young sprinter is one of the top runners in the region in 60m indoor race events. He had focused previous years in these kind of races. He broke Omani record at that time as he had registered a timing of 6.58 seconds in January last year during a training camp in Turkey. Then, he had attended Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Iran where he won first place clocking a time of 6.50 seconds to set both Omani and Gulf records.
Ali, under technical guidance of his national coach Fahad al Mashaykhi, will aim for a top show in the upcoming events. His next assignment will be at the 20th World Athletics Indoor Championships in China and will look for an outstanding performance. Al Balushi took part in the last Olympic Games Paris 2024. He had concluded his Olympic debut at Paris 2024 Olympics with a positive performance finishing in sixth place as he clocked 10.26 seconds in the men’s 100 m first round event for heats 3 at Stade de France.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
