Saturday 06 / July / 2024
Muscat: Oman’s talented athlete Ali Anwar Al Balushi has secured a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics athletics events based on his world rankings.
The Asian Indoor 60m champion is the only Omani athlete to qualify for Paris 2024 after the qualification window closed on June 30. The final Road to Paris 2024 standings were officially confirmed by World Athletics on Tuesday.
Athletes could qualify for Paris 2024 by either meeting the entry standard for their respective events or by finishing within the cutoff of the Road to Paris rankings after the qualification window closed.
Al Balushi finished 49th in the Road to Paris rankings, with 56 athletes making it to the 100m event in total.
Al Balushi, the national senior record holder in the 60m event and 100m and 200 national youth record-holder, has been training under the guidance of his coach Fahad Al Mashaykhi.
His best 100m timing, clocked last month during a meeting in Nembro, Italy, is 10.14 seconds. A finalist in the 100m at the 2021 World U20 Athletics Championship in Nairobi (Kenya), Al Balushi is also a Pan Arab Games winner and is the first Omani athlete to be confirmed for the 2024 Paris Games.
The Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) is expected to finalise the delegation soon, with the remaining athletes to be eligible to participate based on National Olympic Committee (NOC) wild card quotas. Before Al Balushi’s qualification, the only other Omani 100m sprinter to achieve qualification was Barakat Al Harthi, who competed in three successive Games: the 2012 London Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Al Harthi is also the only Omani sprinter to have clocked 100m under 10 seconds (9.97s), making him one of the few Asian sprinters to achieve this feat.
In his remarks to Times of Oman, Al Balushi said: “First of all, I would like to thank everyone who congratulated me on my Paris qualification. A big thank you to Oman Athletics Association for their continuous support and assisting me in overcoming various difficulties I have faced in the past.
“I also thank the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Youth and His Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham Al Said, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, for their support through the High Performance Athletes Programme. I appreciate the support of the Oman Olympic Committee through their Olympic Solidarity Programme as one of the targeted athletes to participate in Paris 2024. And last not the least, I express my sincere thanks and gratitude to my employers, the Ministry of Defence.”
He added: “This is an important step in my career, though I am not surprised by my qualification. I have been working hard to achieve this over the past couple of years. I am still working according to the plan to improve my physical and mental levels and reach the top level so that I can continue to compete at world-class events.”
Coach Fahad Al Mashaykhi shared his pride in Al Balushi's achievements.
He said: “I congratulate Ali on his qualification for Paris 2024, and this is not surprising given his previous achievements. He is the Asian Indoor 60m champion and holds several records at youth level. He is the national record-holder of 100m and 200m for juniors and youth, as well as the national record in 60m for men. He has won numerous medals at Asian, Arab, and Gulf levels. He was ranked sixth in the world in 200m at the Youth Olympic Games (Buenos Aires 2019) and came fourth at the World U20 Athletics Championships (Nairobi 2021).”
Al Mashaykhi added: “We are still at the beginning of his career, and we hope that through our participation at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, Ali will showcase his best physical and mental levels. The Paris experience will be a new starting point for reaching bigger success ahead.”
As’ad Al Hosni, Oman Athletics Association (OAA) General Secretary, expressed his pride in Al Balushi's achievement. He said: “We are proud of the feat accomplished by Ali Al Balushi for Oman. This achievement came after great effort from him and his coach Fahad Al Mashaykhi. We are pleased that this achievement is under the supervision of a national Omani coach. Oman Athletics has received support from many entities for Ali to reach Paris. Many thanks to all of them, especially the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, and the Oman Olympic Committee.”
Ali Anwar Al Balushi’s qualification marks a significant milestone for Oman, and the nation eagerly anticipates his performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
