Barshim family moment adds emotional spark to Qatar’s golden night at…

Doha, Qatar: A rare family double lit up the 4th GCC Games Doha 2026 as the Barshim name featured on two podiums in contrasting but equally memorable fashion.

While Olympic hero Mutaz Barshim won high jump gold, his father Essa Barshim produced a stirring performance to claim silver in the men’s 5,000m race walk at the Qatar Sports Club, finishing in 32:27.68 behind Qatar’s Mabrouk Saleh Al-Karbi, who won gold in 24:21.75. fish-roadgame.com

The UAE’s Ayoub Saroushi took bronze.

Essa’s podium finish drew warm applause from the home crowd, with the veteran athlete earning admiration for his determination and enduring commitment to competition on the international stage.

The moment carried added significance as father and son celebrated medals on the same night, creating one of the most talked-about scenes of the athletics programme.

Barshim shared gold with Oman’s Fatak Bait Jaboob after opting not to continue when officials asked him to proceed, in a repeat of his famous joint victory with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi at the Tokyo Olympics. Both athletes had cleared 2.16m.

It was Barshim’s first event since the Paris Olympics.

The Barshim family, already central to Qatar’s sporting identity, once again reinforced its legacy, with father and son both featuring on the podium in a rare double that highlighted continuity and success across generations.

Hamza Abdelkarim said he is settling well at La Masia and developing physically, mentally, and tactically in the youth setup at Barcelona.

Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim said he is adapting well at La Masia and believes his time with Barcelona is helping him improve physically, mentally, and tactically.

Speaking in an interview with beIN Sports, he said he benefits from every training session and every match. Hamza Abdelkarim added that each minute in Barcelona gives him a chance to develop.

The young forward said scoring goals remains important, but it does not define his full development. He said he must improve other parts of his game to become a more complete player.

The youngster also pointed to Barcelona’s collective style. Abdelkarim said the team must play as one unit, describing football at the club as highly collective. He added that he is gradually adapting to the team’s playing model.

Notably, he said Barcelona’s staff understand his strengths and work with him to sharpen them. Abdelkarim added that his teammates help him show those qualities during matches.

His comments came after he scored in Barcelona youth’s 2-0 win over Tenerife. He played 81 minutes in the match.

Barcelona signed Abdelkarim from Al Ahly on loan until June 30, 2026. The agreement includes a purchase option at the end of the season.

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Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s track and field athletes struck five gold medals as swimmers maintained their strong momentum, with the hosts strengthening their grip on top spot on an action-packed day at the GCC Games Doha 2026 yesterday.

Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim marked his return to competition by sharing the gold medal with Oman’s Fatak Bait Jaboob, in a repeat of his famous joint victory with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi at the Tokyo Olympics.

Qatar added 10 more gold medals to their tally, taking their overall haul to 54 medals, including 21 gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze after the conclusion of the third day of action. Saudi Arabia sit second with 14 gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze, while Bahrain are third with eight gold, 10 silver and five bronze.

Both Barshim and Jaboob shared the men’s high jump gold medal after clearing 2.16m. Barshim opted to share the gold with the Omani athlete after the judges asked whether he wished to continue jumping.

The gold marked Barshim’s fourth medal in Gulf Games history, adding to the titles he won in the first, third and fourth editions, along with a bronze medal from the second edition. Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al-Tarouti settled for bronze.

Read more: Barshim family moment adds emotional spark to Qatar’s golden night at Games

“Praise be to Allah. This is my first championship of the season after an absence of almost two years since the Paris Olympics. Last year I was unable to participate due to a serious injury, and today I was able to return, participate, and win gold,” said Barshim, after returning to action.

It was a proud moment for Jaboob.

“It’s a wonderful feeling competing with the legend Mutaz Barshim. Sharing the gold with a champion of his calibre is a great honour for me,” he said.

Qatar continued to dominate the athletics programme, sweeping the top two spots in the men’s 5,000m race walk through Mabrouk Jahzah and Essa Barshim. Jahzah clinched gold after crossing the line in 24:21.75, while Barshim secured silver in 32:27.68, with the UAE’s Ayoub Sarwash taking bronze.

The hosts added another gold in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase as Zakaria Ibrahim stormed to victory in 8:35.13. Fellow Qatari Yasser Salem Bughrab ensured a one-two finish by taking silver in 9:08.58.

Seifeldin Abdelsalam further boosted Qatar’s tally by winning the men’s pole vault crown, finishing ahead of Saudi Arabia’s Hussein Al-Hizam and Mohammed Al-Qudaihi.

In the women’s events, Sara Ali claimed gold in the 100m hurdles with a winning time of 13.87secs, while teammate Shahd Mohammed picked up bronze. The UAE’s AlJazi Farhan settled for silver.

Qatar also secured medals in several other events, with Hatem Aitoulghazi taking silver and Mubarik Said bronze in the men’s 800m, won by the UAE’s Ibrahim Al-Dhafeeri. Hamza Al-Suwaissi added a silver in the men’s shot put behind Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Tolu.

Meryem Salek claimed bronze in the women’s 800m, while Dana Salem and Salma Hamed also finished third in the women’s 100m sprint and long jump respectively.

The athletics action resumes today with finals scheduled in a number of events, including the men’s and women’s 400m, men’s 110m hurdles, javelin throw, long jump and the 4x400m relays.

More gold medals for swimmers

At the Hamad Aquatic Centre, Mohamed Mahmoud continued his impressive run, claiming another gold medal after winning the men’s 100m breaststroke final in 1:03.10. He finished ahead of Bahrain’s Saud Ghali (1:05.17), while Saudi Arabia’s Emad Alsibyani (1:05.37) took bronze.

Saadeddin secured his third gold medal of Doha 2026, winning the men’s 200m freestyle in a Games record time of 1:49.59. Ali Tamer Hassan completed a Qatari one-two by taking silver in 1:50.38, while Kuwait’s Saud Alshamroukh settled for bronze after clocking 1:54.56.

The hosts also struck gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, setting another Games record with a time of 7:29.22. Kuwait (7:45.38) and Bahrain (7:49.07) finished second and third respectively. Team Qatar were represented by Hassan, Mahmoud, Saadaldin and Emile Fouzai.

President of the Olympic Council of Asia and Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al-Thani, also the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the GCC Games Doha 2026 crowned the winners of 4x200m freestyle relay.

Qatar swimmers added two more silver medals yesterday, with Fouzai finishing runner-up in the men’s 400m individual medley in 4:32.69. Bahrain’s Robert Bonsall claimed gold in a Games record time of 4:27.71, while Kuwait’s Khaled Alotaibi (4:37.56) secured bronze.

Tameem Elhamayda earned the other silver after finishing second in the men’s 50m butterfly in 24.58. Bahrain’s Mikhail Arkhangelskiy won gold in 23.80, while Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Alotaibi (24.80) took bronze.

Qatar’s Ali Al-Obaidli and Abdullatif Alfawal clinched the men’s 10-ball doubles gold with a dominant 7-1 win over Kuwait in the final.

Qatar claim 10-ball doubles, bowling golds

Qatar cueists comprising Ali Al-Obaidli and Abdullatif Alfawal displayed a dominant performance to clinch the men’s 10-ball doubles gold defeating Kuwait’s Sulaiman Gholoum and Meshari Bohaimed 7-1 in the final. Qatar had earlier defeated Saudi Arabia 7-4 in the semi-final while Kuwait edged the UAE 7-6 to book their spot in the final.

Qatar’s Talal Al-Marri, Bader Al-Sada and Jassim Al-Muarikhi won the men’s trio bowling gold with a combined score of 3,785 pins.

At the Qatar Bowling Centre, Qatar’s bowling team claimed the gold medal in the men’s trio event. The home team of Talal Al-Marri, Bader Al-Sada and Jassim Al-Muarikhi topped the standings with a combined score of 3,785 pins over six games, overcoming strong competition from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Oman. Saudi Arabia’s team of Bandar Al-Yaba, Ziyad Al-Tuwaireb and Ahmed Abu Al-Reesh took silver with 3,655 pins, while Kuwait’s Aseel Al-Roumi, Faisal Saleem and Mustafa Al-Mousawi secured bronze with 3,633 pins.

Meanwhile, Qatar also secured two silver medals in boxing events with Mohamed Alfagay falling to Saudi Arabia’s Muhannad Majrashi 1-4 in the men’s 55kg final. Another home boxer Mohammed Dbichi reached the final of men’s 75kg where he suffered defeat against Bahrain’s Aly Abdalla.

Qatar’s handball team opened their Games campaign on a positive note, defeating the UAE 28-20 at the Al Duhail Sports Hall yesterday. The side will be back in action tomorrow, facing Kuwait in their second match of the tournament.

Dead Sea, Jordan: The Jordan Rally roared into life at the HoverUp park by the Dead Sea yesterday evening, with Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah bidding for an 18th victory in the Hashemite Kingdom.

Seventeen crews competing in the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) were joined at the start ceremony by another 10 teams solely tackling the second and third rounds of the Jordan national series. They all will tackle a dozen gravel special stages today and tomorrow in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas.

The new Hover-Up Park, nestled in the sandy valley to the north of the Dead Sea, provided the perfect back drop to the start of the Jordan Rally. Al-Attiyah is partnering with Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera with one eye on the Drivers’ Championship, and currently trails his cousin Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya by 12 points.

Al-Attiyah said: “It’s nice to be here again. It’s a difficult race and one of the most beautiful. After winning Oman, we went back to Qatar and were leading until we had a problem with a wheel rim. It was a mistake by the manufacturer. We lost a lot of points but we are here and well prepared. I have won here 17 times. I enjoy my life and I enjoy this event a lot. The stages are nice and the new Rawda stage will be new for everyone. It’s also easy to get a puncture there.

“We need to be clever to get full points because we don’t know what will happen with Lebanon and Cyprus and then the last race will be in Saudi Arabia. This is part of the WRC and more points will be available at that race. Winning here will make it easier for us at the end of the year.”

Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi was the fastest on the shakedown stage.

Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi has consistently matched the Qatari on stages in recent seasons and he too needs as many points as possible after a difficult start to the year. Al-Rawahi is currently 19 points off the championship lead.

The Omani said: “It’s always a good feeling to be back to the place where I actually started rallying in the Middle East championship. These are some of the toughest stages in the region, very technical and the competition is high. We have been close to him (Al-Attiyah) for the last two years. We have taken another step forward and have been working really hard with the team to get the best set-up."

Al-Rawahi was the first driver to post a time in yesterday’s morning’s 4.83km Shakedown stage. He stopped the clocks in 3min 05.0sec, 12.4 seconds quicker than Hamza Bakhashab on his first of a maximum of two runs. Both drivers were markedly quicker on their second passes with Al-Rawahi topping the times by 5.2 seconds with a run of 2min 58.8sec.

Al-Attiyah and Al-Atya both sat out the shakedown opportunity but Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez and Bassel Abu Hamdan took advantage to finalise the set-up on their Škoda Fabia RSs.

The two QMMF-entered Peugeot 208 Rally4s were closely matched with Rashid Al-Muhannadi getting the better of young Mohammed Al-Marri by just 1.3 seconds, although Al-Marri did improve more on his second pass to set the fifth quickest time. Al-Muhannadi teamed up with French co-driver Florian Barral as a late replacement for Szymon Gospodarczyk.

Only 11 of the 17 FIA crews took advantage of the shakedown opportunity.

Leading Jordanian hope Shaker Jweihan knows that his only realistic hope of a podium is if several of his Rally2 rivals hit problems over the course of the next two days. He is dominating the FIA MERC2 category and is relishing the challenge of achieving a hattrick of category wins.

Competitors will tackle two passes through three stages today. The first run through Shuna (15.25km) gets proceedings underway at 09.49hrs and this is followed by rapid-fire sprints through Baptism (11.24km) from 10.39hrs and Ma’in (16.87km), starting at 11.30hrs.

After a return to the Dead Sea for a midday service and regroup, the three stages are repeated in the afternoon from 13.49hrs, 14.39hrs and 15.30hrs.

FC Nordsjælland have officially signed Ibrahim Adel on a permanent deal from Al Jazira after a brief loan spell in Denmark.

FC Nordsjælland have exercised their option to buy Egyptian winger Ibrahim Adel from Al Jazira, turning his loan into a permanent transfer and signing him until the summer of 2029.

Adel joined the Danish club in February on a loan deal from the Abu Dhabi side. The agreement included a purchase option, which Nordsjælland have now activated after his first months in Farum.

The 25-year-old has played 10 matches for Nordsjælland, scoring two goals and providing one assist.

Nordsjælland football director Alexander Riget said the club had followed Ibrahim Adel for several years. He said the loan gave both sides time to assess the move, and that the club were satisfied enough to complete a permanent deal.

Riget also said Adel has adapted well on and off the pitch. He added that the winger fits the club’s playing style and could become an important Superliga player.

Adel said he has felt at home at Nordsjælland since his arrival. He said he wants to help the club qualify for Europe next season and compete for a title in the coming years.

The Egypt international has 22 caps and three goals for the national team. He last played for Egypt against Saudi Arabia in March.

Adel moved to Al Jazira in the summer of 2025 after a fruitful spell with Pyramids FC. In his last season in Cairo, he recorded 14 goals and 12 assists in 32 matches and helped Pyramids win the CAF Champions League against Mamelodi Sundowns.

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