Sports Minister meets Omani athletes before start of Asian Games

Muscat, August 18 - The Minister of Sports Affairs Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed al Saadi met with athletes who are representing the Sultanate at the 18th Asian Games which will be held in the two cities of Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, from August 18-September 2. During the meeting, the sports minister reiterated the importance of the Sultanate’s participation at the Asian Games. He said this event, which is held once in every four years occurs prior to the Olympic Games by two years, is a very prestigious occasion for Oman.  The minister pointed out that this is an important participation for all the athletes who have been selected among many other athletes from different games according to their top results in the training sessions, camps and latest competitions/tournaments. Khalid al Zubair, chairman of Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) said that OOC provided all the facilities in order for all athletes to come up with respectable performances for the Sultanate. The Oman swimming team will commence their participation at Asian Games by the swimmer Issa al Adawi who will take part at the 200 metre freestyle event while swimmer Abdul Rahman al Kulaibi will participate at 200 metre butterflystroke. On the other hand, Oman beach volleyball team will start their first match against Chinese Taipei. Haitham al Shraiqi and Ahmed al Hosni will represent the Sultanate team (B). Oman (A) team is grouped with Thailand (A), Hong Kong (B) and Maldives (A) teams while Oman (B) team will play against Indonesia (A), Chinese Taipei (A) and Afghanistan. Also, the shooting team will kickstart their campaign at the Asian Games at 10 metre pistol through the team that comprises Ismail al Abri and Wadha al Balushi while the team (B) includes Essam al Balushi and Ameena al Tarshi.