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MENAFN- The Peninsula) Fawad Hussain |The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Abderrahman Samba is back in action, boosting Qatar's medal hopes at this year's Paris Olympics. The star 400m hurdler competed at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm yesterday marking his return from injury.
The 28-year-old looked cautious in his approach as he clocked 49.69 secs in his season's first 400m hurdles race, finishing way behind the leaders. But his return is a good omen for Team Qatar which aims to better their record of two Gold medals and a bronze in the COVID-delayed Tokyo Games three years ago.
The athlete has been battling with injuries in recent years since shining in the 2018 season when he set the Asian record of 46.98 in Paris, before he claimed a bronze medal at the World Championships Doha 2019. After missing the 2020 season, Samba managed a fifth place at Tokyo Games in his rare appearance in the 2021 season.
He suffered a hamstring injury just before his race in the 2022 Doha Diamond League missing the rest of the season but he made a strong return in October 2023, clinching his second consecutive Asian Games gold in Hangzhou, China.
The Qatar hurdler had earlier announced to take part at the Doha Diamond League in May but injury delayed his return in the home event after he opened the 2024 season with a flat 400m in South Africa in March, clocking 45.55. Samba's time yesterday though wasn't convincing, he has the potential of earning a podium finish in major events if stays fit. He finished just ahead of his teammate Bassem Hemeida, who clocked 50.38 secs.
“The 400m hurdles has moved on significantly in recent years, but if I can stay healthy and continue to train consistently, I'm confident I can be back in the mix for a medal in Paris,” Samba had said ahead of the Doha meet.
Meanwhile, Brazil's Alison Dos Santos, who set a world lead of 46.63 in Oslo last week, topped the 400m hurdles race yesterday with a time of 47.01 sec, followed by Kyron McMaster (48.05) of British Virgin Islands, and USA's CJ Allen (48.12).
“It was a good race - 47.01, I think we are just proving that we are in a good shape. I am excited for this results back to back and I am also looking forward to coming back to the training right now,” Dos Santos said after his win.
“I am going back to Florida now, will talk to my coach and will work on what I need to work on. We have like whole group of athletes who are really doing well at the 400m hurdles. Probably, I will still do Monaco, Paris, London - one of those, just to see where we are and to be ready before the Olympics,” he added.
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