Paris: Oman’s youngster swimmer Issa al Adawi began his warm-up training sessions on Friday at Paris La Defense Arena under watchful eyes of his Tunisian head coach Amer Ben Ruqaya. On the other side, the runners Ali al Balushi and Mazoon al Alawi will commence their first preparatory sessions at Stadium de France on Saturday.
Oman’s delegation attended the technical meeting for the Aquatics competitions which took place at the Paris La Defense Arena in presence of all the team’s representatives. The meeting reviewed the players' lists and confirmed the official training schedules, along with the rules and regulations for each event. Team managers were reminded to inform swimmers to adhere strictly to their allotted training times to ensure equal opportunity for all participants.
More than 854 swimmers, comprising 463 men and 391 women representing 187 countries, will take part in the aquatics events. Athletes from the Olympic Refugee Team, under the International Olympic Committee, will also take part in these events.
Al Adawi, who will make his second consecutive appearance in the Olympics, will compete in the 100-metre freestyle swimming event on Tuesday. The heats competitions will begin at 1:00 pm French time (3:00 pm Oman time). He will look to deliver a different show from his previous participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Al Adawi will be the second representative for our national teams in this essential Olympic event after shooter Said al Khatri, who will commence his participation on Monday at the Chateauroux Shooting Center. The preliminary heats will be unveiled in the coming days. Al Adawi will compete alongside notable swimmers, including China's Pan Zhanil, American Jack Alex, Australian Kyle Chalmers, French Maxime Grousset, Hungarian Nandor Nemeth and many other swimmers across the world.
The swimming competitions will run from Saturday to August 5 while water polo competitions from Saturday to August 8 and diving events will be held during the same period. Open water competitions are scheduled for August 8, 9 and 10.
Outstanding show
Coach Ben Ruqaya, the national swimming team head coach, said Issa will enter this Olympic Games with different ambitions and goals compared to his previous participation. “His current technical and physical indicators differ significantly from the previous Olympics in Tokyo. He had participated in the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February and resumed daily training after the academic year ended. This will help him to achieve new personal and record-breaking times,” he said.
“We hope he can manage to achieve his best time in this Olympic participation with positive expectations based on his technical and physical indicators and the training he has undergone. The recent preparatory programme included multiple training sessions in Muscat including two sessions daily and he is aiming for optimal technical and physical readiness,” he said.
Al Adawi said he is looking for a different show and more improved performance compared to his debut Olympic in Tokyo 2020. “This is my second presence in the Olympics and during these three years I had significant developments in my technical and preparatory programmes. The training was consistent and set for the long-term where I focused on reaching peak readiness. I worked hard on endurance and rapid start training for the first 25 metres, with coach segmenting the 100-metre freestyle into four parts with each focusing on specific technical aspects to achieve the desired time,” he said.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
