Omani sprinter Ali receives rousing reception

The Omani sprinter Ali bin Anwar al Balushi, who returned after a bronze medal winning performance at the World Gymnasium Schools Championship which was held in Morocco, was given a rousing welcome at the Muscat International Airport by top officials from the Ministry of Sports Affairs and Oman School Sports Association.

Ali bagged the bronze medal in the 200-metre sprint at the World Gymnasium Schools Championship which was held in Morocco from May 2 to 9.

“This triumph is important to the achievements of Oman School Sports Association. This is the first achievement for the Association,” Laila al Najjar, Vice-chairman of Oman School Sports Association.

“We are preparing to participate with different Omani youngsters in different sports in the upcoming tournaments and championships. We have the talented players and training is scheduled to be done through a professional team,” Al Najjar added.

“Ali will have other commitments as well since he will be part of the Summer Youth Olympics 2018 in Argentina. His training programme will be set in coordination with Youth Training Centre which is run by the Ministry of Sports Affairs,” Al Najjar concluded.

“We congratulate Oman School Sports Association for this achievement. This can be considered training as the first recorded triumph for School Sports Association after establishing it. This sprinter was discovered by the Youth Training Centre and Ali had a training programme in the centre for four years. Currently, we are setting up a training plan for him in coordination with School Sports Association and Oman Athletics Association,” Dr Amer al Touqi, Director of National Teams, in the Ministry of Sports Affairs, said.