Tuesday 11 / February / 2025
MUSCAT: It turned out to be a terrific Tuesday for Oman at the 19th Asian Games in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. And rewriting the Sultanate of Oman’s sporting history was a 20-year-old middle-distance runner named Husain Al Farsi.
Al Farsi, who recorded his personal best time of 1min47.68s to storm into the 800m final on Monday, ran another solid race to clinch a historic bronze medal with a third-place finish in a time of 1:48.51.
Al Farsi’s historic medal is the first for Oman in the 800m track event and the second at the ongoing 2022 Asian Games making it the best ever Asian Games result for the Sultanate since Oman made their debut at New Delhi Asiad in 1982. Since then, Oman athletes have never won more than a single medal at any Asian Games making Hangzhou the most successful ever.
Oman’s sailors, Musab Al Hadi and Waleed Al Kindi, gave Oman the first ever silver medal when they finished second in the men's skiff 49er event at the Hangzhou Games.
Saudi Arabia’s Essa Ali Kzwani took the 800m gold in a time of 1:48.05 while India’s Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath, who had won the round one heat, bagged a silver with a time of 1:48.43 at the Hangzhou Olympic Centre Stadium.
Qatar’s Abdirahman Hassan came fourth behind Al Farsi with a time of 1:48.56.India’s Krishna Kumar, who has a personal best is 1:45.88, and was one of the favourites was disqualified in the final for jostling and obstruction along with China's Dezhu Liu. At the 400m mark, Dezhu was in the lead before the others surged past him.
Al Farsi’s medal put him along athletics legend Mohammed Amur Al Malki and sprint star Barakat Al Harthi, the only two other runners who have won medals at the Asian Games.
Tuesday’s achievement was the fifth medal in athletics for Oman since the first bronze medal in 1986 Seoul Asiad, which was won by Al Malki in 400m.
Legendary Al Malki won the only gold so far for the Sultanate at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games and also held the Asian 400m record of 44.56s for more than two decades.
Oman’s other two Asian Games medals prior to Al Farsi’s feat on Tuesday were also bronze with the 4x100m relay quartet winning at the 1998 Asiad in Jakarta and Barakat’s third-place finish at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou.
Al Farsi’s medal achieves more significance in the light of the failure of other Oman athletes and an athletics’ medal drought since 2010. Among the favourites to bring glory for Oman were sprinters Ali Anwar Al Balushi and Barakat Al Harthi in the 100m event. However, neither Al Balushi nor Barakat could make it even to the 100m final.
The other 200m sprinters – Rashid Al Aasmi and Mohammed Obaid Al Sadi – also failed to qualify for the 200m finals.
On Tuesday, wearing bib no 630, Al Farsi, who is ranked 417 in the world, surpassed expectations to hold off Qatar’s Hassan and Dezhu Liu (1:48.81) for the bronze. Prior to his Asian Games participation, Al Farsi’s best time was 1:49.20.
Also in action on Tuesday was Oman’s Salim Al Yaarubi in the triple jump. Competing in the finals that had 13 jumpers, Al Yaarubi leapt 14.68m to finish 12th. The gold was won by China’s Yaming Zhu with a leap of 17.13m while the silver was won by another host nation athlete, Yaoqing Fang (16.93) and the bronze by India’s Praveen Chitaravel (16.68m).
Oman’s weightlifter Amur Al Khanjari will compete in the 81kg Group A event on Wednesday with hopes of a raise in the medals tally while Oman will conclude Asian Games participation on Friday when the national team plays Bangladesh in a seventh place classification match.
