Aspire Academy celebrating the success of Owaab Barrow.
DOHA: Aspire Academy yesterday held an event attended by student-athletes, coaches, sport scientists and staff to celebrate the achievements of Owaab Barrow at the recent Youth Olympic Games which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Owaab Barrow clinched gold in the men’s 110m hurdles event at the Games. One of three athletes representing Qatar in Argentine, Barrow won the race with a personal best time of 13.17 seconds.
Owaab’s achievements reflect the strong cooperation and partnership that exists between the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) and Aspire Academy. Now in its third year, this partnership is designed to improve athletic performance and provide sportsmen with access to the world-class expertise, facilities and training opportunities available at Aspire Academy.
During Monday’s event, Lee Christopher, Coach for Sprints, Hurdles and Relay at Aspire Academy and Owaab’s coach, took the lead in describing Barrow’s journey and progress during the three years from 2015 to 2018.
Lee Christopher commented: “From the very start, I could see that Owaab had great potential and exhibited many of the core skills needed to succeed at this level. His positivity, determination and daily focus to overcome injuries that he has sustained is exemplary.”
The celebration event featured a Q&A interview with Owaab during which he described his experiences and expressed his utmost gratitude and appreciation to Aspire and the QAF.
Owaab Barrow said; “Of course, determination and focus are very important. This is true not only in terms of training, but also extends to managing sleep cycles and a sticking to a strict diet. All these factors affect an athlete’s performance.”
Commenting on his future prospects, Owaab said: “I want to make the most of my opportunities and compete with the best in the world at the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha. This is one of my key goals.”
In 2020, the 17-year-old student athlete, will still be able to compete in the IAAF World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya. And if he maintains his current progress and rate of success, he could potentially compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
