Mohamed Al-Mannai a Silver Champion Made in the Academy

Thursday 16 July 2009: Doha, Qatar: Sixteen year old ASPIRE athletics student, Mohamed Ahmed Al-Mannai, has revealed himself as the future star of Qatar Athletics in the near future. The academy’s student is declared in deed a champion in the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships in Südtirol, North East Italy. He claimed the silver medal in the octathlon event with the total of 6232pts, slightly behind the French Kevin Mayer, gold medalist. This is the first medal for Qatar in this event, at such international championships. He has not only set a new personal and Arab record, but beat some of the well established athletes from Russia or Germany as well. With his result of 6232points, he is currently ranked number two in the world, in the under 18 year old age group. Four years after Mohamed was identified by ASPIRE, the 889 training sessions, 13 training and competition camps have paid off. This is truly a performance made in ASPIRE. “I’m obviously very pleased with the results and I’m very happy for Mohamed, as he has proven to be a real champion here in this competition. But this performance is no surprise for me and the ASPIRE athletics coaches for we strongly believe it is the result of a four year master plan and carefully planned sporting career for Mohamed. A lot of people have their share in this success, from coaches, sport scientist, physiotherapists to nutritionists”, comments ASPIRE athletics head coach, Ralf Iwan. From his part, Al-Mannai excitingly declared: “It’s unbelievable! I am really excited to have performed up to this level. I was seriously prepared for these championships, and was self-confident that I could compete quite well. I dedicate this silver medal to ASPIRE and all my coaches and all the Qataris. I didn’t feel any big difference comparing to my rivals at this event, and this is thanks to the world –class conditions ASPIRE provided me with.”