DAMASCUS, July 23 (Xinhua) — Syrian athletes are preparing and looking to raise their country’s flag on the podiums at the Paris Olympic Games with high hopes pinned on show jumping and weightlifting, according to the country’s General Sport Federation.
The Games, set to kick off on July 26 and run until August 11, will see six Syrian athletes competing in the disciplines, such as show jumping, weightlifting over 109kg, 200m freestyle swimming, gymnastics, 100m sprint, and judo under 73kg.
During a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday, Alaa Khawaja Ji, a member of the Executive Office of the Syrian General Sports Federation, expressed confidence in the country’s top athletes, particularly those to compete in weightlifting and show jumping.
“Our primary hopes are our world champion Man Asaad in weightlifting and our world-class equestrian, Amre Hamcho. We wish the delegation all the best,” he said.
Khawaja Ji also highlighted the challenges faced by Syrian athletes, such as financial issues, and the U.S. and Western sanctions that affected Syria’s relations with other countries, in addition to the difficulty in obtaining visas.
“Naturally, this situation has impacted all sports in Syria,” he lamented.
Hamcho, who will compete in show jumping, struck an optimistic attitude about Syria’s participation, saying Syria has always been present in the show jumping disciplines.
“The participants in the Olympics are the top 75 riders globally. As for our chances, we, as Syrian equestrians, have always been participants in championships in Asia or the Mediterranean,” he said.
According to the International Equestrian Federation’s classification, Hamcho qualified for Paris after securing the necessary points from the group that includes Syria.
“We are present and competitive in every championship we participate in, and hopefully, we can compete in these Olympics as well,” he added.
For his part, heavyweight weightlifter Asaad, competing in the over 109kg category, urged caution about speaking of absolute winning but remained hopeful.
“Many champions were ready to participate and win medals at their level but were unsuccessful. So, I believe it’s too early to talk about winning. We hope to deliver a performance worthy of our country. Things are going well now, and hopefully, we will be fully prepared by the time of participation,” he remarked.
Asaad earned his spot after accumulating qualifying points across various events, most notably winning the gold at the Asian Championships.
Syria’s Olympic history has witnessed four medals: a silver in wrestling by Joseph Atiyah in Los Angeles 1984, a gold in heptathlon by Ghada Shouaa in Atlanta 1996, a bronze in boxing by Nasser Al-Shami in Athens 2004, and a bronze in weightlifting by Maen Asaad in Tokyo 2020.
