TNN/QNAKonya (Turkey)
Qatar athlete Tosin Ogunode set the track ablaze in the 100m heats with a time of 9:98 seconds at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya on Monday. The Games officially open on Tuesday. Ogunode, who has participated in the same event at the 2018 Asian Games, qualified for the 100m semi-finals.Team Qatar excelled in athletics with Bassem Al Hemida (400m hurdles), Abu Bakr Abdullah (800m) and Abdul Rahman Hassan (800m) in their respective events.Qatar’s Samar Mansouri also excelled in the women’s pole vault competition.Qatar’s Muhammad Al Qarni is also participating in 5000m at the Games.Issa Ghanem is the administrative head of the Qatari delegation who said that Team Qatar athletes are aspiring to achieve top medals.Team Qatar is participating with 95 male and 22 female athletes in 14 disciplines including handball, basketball and volleyball.Handball team makes winning startEarlier, Qatar’s handball team made a winning start to their campaign defeating Morocco 22-20 in the morning. The other teams in Qatar’s group are Saudi Arabia and Iraq. A total of 55 countries are participating at the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games (from August 9 to 18) being held under the aegis of Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF). It is also the first time in history that the event has been organised by the Turkish Olympic Committee. Saudi Arabia had hosted the first Islamic Solidarity Games in 2005. The Indonesian cities of Palembang and Sumatra hosted the third Games in 2013. In 2017, Azerbaijan’s capital Baku hosted the fourth edition. of the Games
