Dubai : The UAE's Saud Abdul Kareem Ali Mohammad was morose after failing to win a medal during last week's West Asian Athletics Championships in Aleppo, Syria. But one thing that has encouraged the 22 year old from Sharjah to keep striving for success is the time that he clocked in his favourite 800-metre event during the competition.
To someone from the world of athletics, a time of 1 minute 48.86 seconds is possibly nothing worth bragging about. But for someone who has spent just over a year in the sport, it means there is a future.
Mohammad, who is attached to Al Ahli Club, ran a magical sub-1.50 minute time in Syria last Saturday. Besides being a personal best, for a middle distance runner it means a lot to achieve such a good time in so short a time in training.
"I love what I am doing at the moment," Mohammad told Gulf News after returning from Syria last week.
"I have shown a lot of improvement since the past few months, and much of this I believe is because of the hard work I have put in on the track."
That hard work has reflected in Mohammad's aiming for higher objectives over a period of time. The first on the list is November's Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, where a medal looks within reach provided he is able to cut at least a couple of seconds off his last week's personal best.
Hard work
"From now on it has to be a lot of hard work. I need to target a time of 1.46 and that can possibly give me a medal in China," he said.
His coach Djabir Saeed-Guerni from Algeria is among the firm believers in this young UAE talent. "His time in Syria simply means he is on the right track," Saeed-Guerni said.
He ought to know about the learning curves in the career of a middle-distance runner. The former Algerian champion, now 33, has a personal best of 1:43.09 over the distance that he clocked way back in 1999 in Brussels.
"He is on the right road," Saeed-Guerni said.
