02 Jun 2025
Aspire Academy graduates Bassem Hemeida and Abubaker Haydar both claimed medals at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea.
Bassem Hemeida won silver in the 400m hurdles, finishing behind his compatriot Abderrahman Samba. The two athletes then helped Qatar secure gold in the 4x400m relay.
Abubakar Haydar’s medal came in the 800m, where he finished third to claim the bronze, in addition to the two golds he won in 2019 and 2021.
Student-athlete Seif Hemeida and Apsire Academy-trained Oumar Doudai Abakar agonisingly missed out on podium places as they both finished fourth.
Seif Hemeida, who is coached by Qatar Athletics Federation’s (QAF) Pawel Szczyrba, equalled his own national pole vault record of 5.62m in the final for his fourth place.
His performance came a few days after he was named the Asian Male Under-20 Athlete of the Year.
There was another new national record for Oumar Doudai Abakar, who is coached by Aspire Academy’s Lee Christopher, in the heats of the 110m hurdles as he lowered his own record to 13.39s.
He ran another impressive time in the final of 13.49s but missed a bronze medal by 0.04s behind China’s Qin Weibo.
There were fifth places for graduates Ashraf Elseify and Moaaz Ibrahim in the hammer and discus, respectively.
Salah Nur Ismail Yunis, who is trained by Aspire Academy’s Steve Fudge, ran a new personal best of 10.36 seconds in the heats of the 100m to progress to the semi-finals but was unable to match that time and narrowly missed out on a place in the final.
The success at the Asian Athletics Championships is a testament to the collaboration between Aspire Academy and the QAF in developing world-class athletes, particularly with the focus now on 2030, when Doha will host the Asian Games.