DUBAI: The International Weightlifting Federation has confirmed the qualification of Mahmoud Al-Ahmeed, the Saudi weightlifter, to the Olympic Games in Tokyo after he topped its Asian classification in the 73 kg category, Arabic sports daily Arriyadiyah reported.
Al-Ahmeed is the seventh individual Saudi to qualify to Tokyo 2020, alongside the Under-23 national football team.
The others are Youssef Bouarish (swimming), Ali Khadrawi (table tennis), Husein Alireza (rowing), Saeed Al-Mutairi (shooting), Tarek Hamdi (karate), and Sulaiman Hamad (judo).
Meanwhile, in the Paralympic Games, Abdel-Rahman Al-Qurashi, Fahad Al-Junaidel, Ali Al-Nakhli, Hassan Doshi, Sarah Al-Jumaah, and Al-Hanouf Abu Hamed all qualified in athletics events, while Maryam Al-Muraisel will compete in table tennis, and Ahmed Al-Sharbatly in the equestrian section.
The Kingdom’s football team returned to Saudi Arabia after their fourth training camp in Marbella, Spain to take part in an indoor program in preparation for the Olympics, in which the side will face Brazil, Germany and the Ivory Coast in Group D of the men’s tournament.
Saudi weightlifter Mahmoud Al-Ahmeed confirms qualification to Tokyo Olympics
https://arab.news/b4nbc
Saudi weightlifter Mahmoud Al-Ahmeed confirms qualification to Tokyo Olympics
- Al-Ahmeed, who will compete in the 73 kg division, becomes the seventh Saudi individual to qualify for Tokyo
Siniakova ends Andreeva Indian Wells defense in third round
- Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals
INDIAN WELLS, United States: Unseeded Katerina Siniakova ended a frustrated Mirra Andreeva’s Indian Wells title defense on Monday, rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the eighth-ranked Russian.
The 18-year-old Andreeva had opened her repeat bid with an imperious 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Solana Sierra.
But she was in trouble early and often against 44th-ranked Siniakova in a rollercoaster contest that featured seven service breaks for each player and 43 break chances between them.
When she sailed a swinging volley long to surrender the second set, Andreeva threw her racquet in disgust.
She regrouped to break Siniakova for a 3-2 lead in the third, but Siniakova won the next four games.
The Czech saved a pair of break points in the final game before sealing the match with a shot that struck the net cord and dribbled over as Andreeva could only watch, disappointment sparking another outburst from the Russian as she departed the court.
Siniakova, a former doubles number one, will face either Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or American Ashlyn Krueger for a place in the quarter-finals.
In other early matches, fifth-seeded American Jessica Pegula shook off a slow start to beat Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Pegula, coming off her fourth career WTA 1000 title at Dubai last month, fired 11 aces with just one double fault as she rallied for the win.
“I think today I had to kind of snap myself back and kind of lock in to not let that get away from me,” said Pegula, who said she was in danger of letting negativity and frustration get the better of her.
“I didn’t think I was playing bad. It was just letting a couple chances, couple breaks here and there (get away), maybe a couple shots that I could have been more aggressive on.”
Later on Stadium Court, world number two Iga Swiatek took on Greece’s Maria Sakkari — the woman she beat in the Indian Wells finals in 2022 and 2024.
Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, who lifted the Indian wells Trophy in 2023, played Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final match of the night.
