(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Abdulaziz al-Obaidly held his own as he shared the stage with Vladimir Morozov and Michelle Coleman yesterday. The Qatari teenage swimmer, who has been making waves in regional competitions, was not overawed to be in the presence of world class swimmers.
The 18-year-old is one of the 17 Qatari swimmers who will look to impress the home crowd at the seventh and final leg of the Swimming World Cup series, which will begin from today at the Hamad Aquatic Centre. Al-Obaidly is undoubtedly the standout talent to emerge from Qatar.
In last year's edition, al-Obaidly reached the finals of 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley events, and wants to build on from that performance this year.
In the recently-held GCC Aquatics Championships in Kuwait, al-Obaidly clinched two gold and a bronze medal, but he has a bigger target in mind this time as he targets a place in the Tokyo Olympics next year.
Today, al-Obaidly will compete in the 100 breaststroke, followed by his best events tomorrow and Saturday: the 200m individual medley and the 200 breaststroke, respectively.
'Everyone's goal is to reach the Olympics. For this competition, I hope to get my best times and qualify to the finals, the youngster said yesterday.
'It's a great honour for all of us to compete at a home event. We trained hard for this meet and all of us are very excited to do well in this top class competition, he added.
Al-Obaidly is a huge fan of American legend Michael Phelps.
'Growing up, I idolised Michel Phelps. When I saw the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he won eight gold medals which I think is impossible feat to achieve now for all swimmers. I started loving this sport after watching him win those medals. It takes lots of sacrifices, he said.
The Qatari swimmer took baby steps into swimming when he was just three years old but it did not take him long to make Qatar's junior ranks at age 7. 'It wasn't my choice, al-Obaidly said with a wide grin. 'My mother chose swimming to be my sport. And I started loving it. I learnt swimming at the age of three and made it to the national team at age 7.
'I have been training hard for the last 11 years. Now especially with the Olympics in mind I am putting in my best efforts. For this competition I hope to produce my best times and qualify to the finals, he said.
The teenager has been training under Yuriy Vlaslov, a 1996 Olympian who represented Ukraine, and is a breaststroke specialist.
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