Al Jasmi sets sights on Olympic standard

In an outstanding performance, the UAE's Obaid Al Jasmi snatched the gold medal in the 100 metres freestyle at the 17th GCC Swimming Championships in Doha.

Al Jasmi is the only swimmer to have broken the 54-second barrier in the history of UAE swimming.

Al Jasmi's time of 53.71 seconds helped him create a new UAE national open record.

"I think this is a great achievement as Obaid has been in training since the past eight weeks now," remarked UAE national team coach, Greg Hodge.

"For sure, Obaid has his sights fixed on the Olympic Games qualifying time of 52.2 seconds and this would make him the first UAE swimmer to achieve an official Olympic qualifying standard," Hodge added.

The Australian coach agreed that he would rather have his swimmers qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing rather than make the grade through wild card allocation.

"Accepting wild cards is the current practice for UAE swimmers. But with such performances, I am confident we can make the grade by getting better qualifying times," Hodge confided.

In his capacity as a senior swimmer, Al Jasmi has become a great role model for the younger boys, and an excellent team leader on this tour.

"He is now more than determined to make the Olympic standard," Hodge stated.

The UAE latest gold follows on from four days of successful age group competitions in which the UAE team gained an all-time record haul of 25 medals, including nine golds.