Incheon, South Korea: Yousuf Al Hammadi was the surprise package on the third day of competition as the UAE cyclist remained within striking distance of a medal in the men’s Omnium as the UAE continued its medal search at the end of the third day at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Al Hammadi, who participated in the inaugural Dubai Tour earlier this year, won the 15km scratch race ahead of the eleven riders in the morning. He followed this up with a sixth place in the 4km individual pursuit after being pitted against Kazkhstan’s Artymov Zakharov and ended the day in eighth place in the elimination race later in the evening to end in fifth place with 18 points.
Korean Cho Hosung is the leader with six points, followed by Kazakhstan’s Zakharov with seven points, China’s Liu Hao with nine and Cheung King Lok of Hong Kong in fourth with 14 points.
The Omnium event consists of six races spread over a two-day period, something similar to the decathlon held in men’s athletics. Riders win points as per their placings in each race. Points are then totaled and the rider with the least number of points at the end of two days wins the gold medal.
On Tuesday, Al Hammadi will take part in the next three races, namely the one kilometer time trial, the 300-metre flying lap time trial and finally the grueling 40km points race at the end of the day.
“It has been a tiring day, but I must keep all this aside and focus on the second day of competition,” Al Hammadi told Gulf News.
“Though a race of this nature is not the easiest of things I feel confident as I have been preparing well for this event. That first race in the morning [15km points race] gave me a lot of confidence and I hope I can go all the way for a medal now,” he added.
Another heart-warming performance came from fencer Majid Sultan Al Mansouri as he made it to the quarter-finals in the individual men’s foil competition being held at the Goyang Gymnasium. Al Mansouri was one of three qualifying from Pool C after winning two of his bouts – identical 5-3 wins against Kazakhstan’s Yuriy Bidarev and Mohammad Al Hazzazi of Saudi Arabia.
In the Round of 16, the young UAE fencer got the better of Nathaniel Perez from the Philippines. However, Al Mansouri found a tough opponent in the quarter-finals as Yuki Oka defeated him 15-3.
Earlier in the morning, Mohammad Al Ghafri disappointed after he finished last in his 50m men’s backstroke at the Munhak Aquatics Centre.
Fresh from competing in the Gulf and Arab Swimming Championships, Al Ghafri was expected to at least make the finals scheduled later in the evening. However, the heat was won by Japan’s Irie Ryosuke in a new Games record of 25.07 seconds, while Al Ghafri failed to even better his personal best of 27.32 seconds after he ended the race with a time of 27.59 seconds.
