Qatar's Mutaz Barshim Wins Asia's Best Male Athlete for Second Time

Mutaz Barshim

Qatars Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim won the '2023 Best Asian Male Athlete' at the 50th anniversary of the Asian Athletics Association held in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday.

During the ceremony, the Asian Athletics Federation announced the awards for the best athletes in the continent for the past season in all categories, as the awards were distributed among athletes in India, Thailand, China, and Japan.

The three-time Qatari Olympic high jump medalist and the first athlete to achieve that title in the history of athletics won the title of the Best Asian Male Athlete for the second time in a row. Essa Barshim received the award on behalf of Mutaz, who contented himself with a recorded video message, in which he apologized for not attending due to his association with a training camp program, thanking the Asian Athletics Federation for its wonderful gesture of celebrating its 50th anniversary.

For his part, HE President of the Asian Athletics Association Dahlan Al Hamad stressed that the success of the Asian continent is due to the keenness to apply the best standards of development and success, adhere to them, and work sincerely for the supremacy of the continent, and to present new champions to it.

In his speech before the celebration, Al Hamad said that Asia is on the verge of a new phase of success after the construction pillars were completed in the past years, thanking Thailand for hosting the celebration, and before that, its great cooperation with the federation through Thomasat University, which includes a special rehabilitation and training center, and the federation has benefited greatly from it in recent years.

Al Hamad stressed that the success is also due to the great cooperation of all the Asian federations, and their keenness to achieve the highest standards of development.

For his part, Secretary-General of Qatar Athletics Federation Mohammed Issa Al Fadala congratulated HE the President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani on the Qatari Olympic and world champion Mutaz Barshim winning the Best Asian Male Athlete for the last season.

Al Fadala said that Mutaz winning the Best Asian Male Athlete represents an additional motivation for the Qatar Athletics Federation to work hard to present champions who honor athletics shortly, stressing at the same time that they are keen to ensure that the Qatari athletics have a continuous presence on the podiums, considering Muatazs victory as an additional incentive for him to continue the successes, and represents motivation for the Qatari athletes to work hard to reach the best levels.

(QNA)