Athletics: Al Salfa's gold quest

Dubai : Omar Juma Al Salfa has set his heart on becoming the first Emirati sprinter to win gold at the Asian Games.

The 20-year-old Al Salfa, who is already the first sprinter from his country to have competed in an Olympics in Beijing two years ago, will get the chance to realise his latest objective in Guangzhou this November when the 16th edition of the games takes place.

And he is hoping for a triumphant return to the venue where he raced to a gold medal at last November's Asian Athletics Championship.

Speaking to XPRESS after a straightforward win in the President's Cup at the Dubai Police Officers Club, Al Salfa said: "I've improved and I feel I'm stronger now. I hope I can take the gold in the Asian Games. I won gold in the Asian Championship last year so I hope I can do the same."

Al Salfa served notice of his improvement since Beijing with an impressive run in 2009. He reached the quarter-final of the World Championship in Berlin in August before his gold medal winning feat at the biennial Asian Athletics Championship. And it's quite clear he is a happier man these days compared to the frustrated figure crying out for greater support less than a year ago. "I get more support now. Everybody tells me not to stop, to continue," he said. "From my coach, to my family at home, they all tell me the same. We do it for our country, so I have no problem."

Though his English is not as fluent as he would like it to be, Al Salfa still has the uncanny knack of summing things up brilliantly, like the relationship with his coach Vasco Angelov. "I feel good with my coach. Just like it is with my father, I cannot change my coach," he said with a wry smile.

The two clearly share a healthy relationship as Angelov firmly believes in the talent of his ward. "He ran the quarter-finals of the World Championship. This is a first for the Emirates," said Angelov, who however preferred to remain cautious about Al Salfa's chances of gold medal glory in the Asian Games. "I can't say he will take the 200 metre gold for sure because there is lot of competition. We are working for that. He is very young and has worked very seriously for two years. He needs experience and more time because World Championship, Asian Games and Olympics are a different level of competition," said the Bulgarian.