Jakarta, August 31, 2018 - Qatar continued to press for gold medals in athletics during the ongoing 18th Asian Games with their star athlete Abderrahman Samba playing the pivotal role in the team event.

Late on Thursday, Samba along with Mohamed Abbas, Mohamed Mohamed and Abdalelah Hassan claimed the gold medal in the Men’s 4x400m Relay Final.  Much like his gold medal winning performance in the 400m hurdles, Samba was off the block in a blitz and by the time he passed the baton to Abbas, Qatar must have been a good five meters ahead of the pack.  

Abbas and the next in line Mohamed were quick, but were far from Samba’s dominating run, and so the Indian relay team of Kunhu Muhammed Puthanpurakkal, Dharun Ayyasamy, Muhammed Anas Yahiya and Arokiarajiv managed to reduce the margin to a good extent, but Hassan sealed with fate with his sprint. Team Qatar clocked 3:00.56 seconds steering clear of the Indian quartet, who ended 1.29 seconds behind.

Japanese team on Julian Jrummi Walsh, Yuki Koike, Takatoshi Abe and Shota Iizuka took home the bronze with a time of 3:01.94 seconds.

“Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds that I achieved the first place and won the gold medal… My dream has come true today… thanks to the continuous support of Qatar Olympic Committee headed by HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani @JoaanBinHamad,” tweeted Samba in Arabic post the win.

Later the Sh. Joaan presented the medals to the podium finishers.

On Monday, Samba had finished with a gold in the 400m hurdles clocking a Games Record time of 47.66 seconds. He had said that he had “pushed it as it was the final”, but on Thursday, it seemed rather easy for 5’11” star athlete, who is gaining in confidence by the day.

Next, Samba would showcase his skills in Ostrava, Czech Republic, where the IAAF Continental Cup is being schedule for September this year.

Following the gold medal performance, Qatar’s tally shot up to 12 with five golds, four silver and three bronze.