Staff Reporter
Nagoya: Qatar enjoyed a highly productive day at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, winning five medals across shooting, athletics, handball and weightlifting to take its overall tally to 12.
The national team added three silver and two bronze medals on another eventful day, with the men’s team trap shooters, the 4x400m relay quartet and the handball team securing silver, while Abubaker Abdalla and Ouisal Ikhlef claimed bronze.
Qatar’s medal tally now stands at three gold, five silver and four bronze medals as the country continues its campaign across several sports at the Games.
The day began with a silver medal for Qatar in the men’s team trap event, where Mohammed Al-Rumaihi, Saeed Hamad Abu Sharib and Angelo Scalzone finished second with 349 hits.
Kuwait claimed the gold with 355 hits, while Kazakhstan took bronze with 348.
“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 also praised the team effort, saying the medal was the result of teamwork and sustained concentration during the three-day competition. He also qualified for the individual trap final after recording 119 hits.
Qatar had earlier secured gold medals in team skeet and individual skeet.
In the women’s team trap event, Kholoud Hassan Al-Khalaf, Ray Bassil and Maitha Hamad Al-Binali finished fourth with 324 hits, narrowly missing the bronze medal by one target.
China won gold with 346 hits, followed by India with 328 for silver, while Kuwait claimed bronze with 325.
Athletics adds two medals
Qatar’s athletics team contributed two more medals, with the 4x400m relay quartet of Bassem Hemeida, Ismail Abakar, Youssef Djibrine and Ammar Ibrahim winning silver in 3:00.93, their best time of the season.
Japan took gold in 3:00.75, while India finished third in 3:01.61.
Hemeida had earlier won gold in the 400m hurdles on Monday, adding another medal to Qatar’s athletics haul.
Abdalla also produced a personal best of 1:45.25 to win bronze in the men’s 800m. Japan’s Ko Ochiai won gold in 1:44.48, while Iran’s Ali Amirian took silver in 1:45.10.
“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.”
Qatar’s Hatem Hameed finished sixth in 1:46.41.
In the men’s pole vault final, Seifeldin Abdelsalam finished sixth after clearing 5.50m. Philippines’ John Ernest Obiena won gold with a clearance of 5.91m.
Handball team settles for silver
Qatar’s three-time defending champions had to settle for silver in men’s handball after losing a thrilling final 33-32 to Bahrain.
Qatar had dominated the event at the previous three editions of the Asian Games, winning gold at Incheon 2014, Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
Bahrain secured its first Asian Games gold medal in men’s handball after edging Qatar in a closely contested final.
Bahrain led 16-15 at half-time before opening a four-goal advantage in the second half. Qatar repeatedly fought back but could not find the equaliser during the closing stages.
Japan defeated the Republic of Korea 37-32 in the bronze-medal match.
Ikhlef makes history
Weightlifting delivered Qatar’s fifth medal of the day as Ouisal Ikhlef won bronze in the women’s +86kg category with a total lift of 273kg.
The achievement marked the first Asian Games medal won by a female Qatari weightlifter.
China’s Li Wenwen claimed gold with a total of 310kg, while Park Hye-jeong of the Republic of Korea took silver with 300kg.
Qatar also progressed in beach volleyball, with Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan defeating Vietnam’s Lam Toi Nguyen and Van Viet Tran 21-16, 21-9 to reach the quarter-finals.
The defending champions will face Iran’s Abbas Pouarasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s second beach volleyball pair, Mousa Al-Khair and Ihab Mohamed, exited in the Round of 16 after a 2-0 defeat to China’s Jinyang Song and Yanwei Wang.
In volleyball, Qatar suffered a 3-2 defeat to India in its final Pool C match despite taking the first two sets 28-26 and 27-25.
India fought back to win the next three sets 25-23, 25-20 and 24-22.
Qatar, which had already secured a place in the quarter-finals, will face hosts Japan for a place in the semi-finals.