Today at the Olympics: the Mena athletes to watch on day three in Tokyo


Matthew Kynaston
  • English
  • Arabic

Expect more high-octane action on day three of the Tokyo Olympics as athletes fight it out for medals.

The opening two days of the Games saw many incredible performances and some shocking results. Below is a list of athletes from the Mena region who will be competing on Monday.

Badminton (women’s, men’s, mixed doubles and singles)

Musashino Forest Sport Plaza

The group stage play continues today in women’s, men’s singles and doubles.

As luck of the draw would have it, Egypt will be taking on the Netherlands in both the mixed doubles and women’s doubles play, with Doha Hany playing in both matches. Iranian Soraya Aghaeihajiagha’s opens her campaign in the women’s single play while Israel’s Misha Zilberman will be looking to build on his opening victory over 2019 World Champion bronze medalist Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth, when he takes on the Netherlands Mark Caljouw.

Boxing - Various preliminaries

Kokugican Arena

Plenty more action in the ring today as the preliminary rounds continue in the men’s fly and middleweights and women’s featherweight classes.

Seyedshahin Mousavi Iran won bronze at the Asian Championships this year. The middleweight (69-75kg) fighter will be going toe-to-toe with Japan’s Yuto Moriwaki. In the same weight class, Algeria’s Younes Nemouchi takes on Ugandan Kavuma David Ssemujju.

Fencing

Makuhari Messe

Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt will be represented in the men’s foil individual and women’s sabre individual competitions today.

Tunisia’s Amira Ben Chaabane will be looking to pull off an upset against world number seven Liza Pusztai from Hungary in the women’s sabre.

Handball - men’s

Yoyogi National Stadium

After a strong start, beating Portugal 37-31 on Friday, Egypt’s men will be hoping to cause problems for Denmark, a team highly expected to finish on the podium.

Victor Scvortov, left, of the UAE. Courtesy IJF
Victor Scvortov, left, of the UAE. Courtesy IJF

Judo - women’s -57kg and men’s -73kg

Nippon Budokan

Plenty of judokas to be keeping up with on competition day for the women’s -57kg and men’s -73kg weight categories.

In the men’s -73kg weight class, UAE’s hopes lie with Victor Scvortov. Ranked 20th in the world, his opening elimination game will be against the 2021 World Championship silver medalist Tommy Macias from Sweden.

In the women’s -57kg class, we will be keeping an eye on the progress of Ghofran Khelifi, the three-time African Championships Winner from Tunisia.

Shooting - women’s and men’s skeet

Asaka Shooting/ Shotgun ranges

In the women’s skeet, Morocco’s Ibtissam Marirhi will begin day two in 18th after her efforts on first qualifying day, and Bahrain’s Maryam Hassani in 26th.

In the men’s competition, UAE’s Saif bin Futais will be hoping to improve on his totals yesterday to make the final. Abdullah Alrashidi, representing Kuwait, dropped just one shot off a perfect score on the first day of qualifying, leaving him in joint sixth while Egypt’s Azmy Mehelba dropped one more.

Sailing - various

Enoshima and Kamakura

In the women’s windsurfing, Katy Spychakov of Israel has gotten off to a great start, and is currently placed in fifth after three races. She will be back in the water today.

Egypt’s Aly Badawy finished 32nd in yesterday’s one person dinghy race, today he has two more races to climb the tables.

Surfing

Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach

Having gotten off to a strong start yesterday, Moroccan Ramzi Boukhaim has been drawn against Frenchman Michel Bourez in the third round of the men’s surfing event.

Egypt's Aly Badawy competes in the men's one-person dinghy laser race 1. AFP
Egypt's Aly Badawy competes in the men's one-person dinghy laser race 1. AFP

Swimming - various

Tokyo Aquatics Centre

Lebanon’s Gabriella Doueihy and Morocco’s Lina Khiyara will both be competing in the same heat of the women’s 200m freestyle. Look out for Israel’s Andrea Murez who will be swimming a few minutes later.

Table tennis - women’s and men’s singles

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium

Two Egyptian’s remain in the singles tournaments. Omar Assar will face Ukraine Lei Kou in the second round of the men’s singles, and Dina Meshref will play in the third round of the women’s competition.

Taekwondo - women’s -67kg and men’s -80kg

Makuhari Messe

Two big names in the men’s -80kg class to follow here will be Egypt’s Seif Eissa (world number five) and Jordan’s Saleh Elsharabarty (ranked sixth). Both are looking to build on gold medals in the African Championships and Asian Championships this year, respectively.

Julyana Al-Sadeq from Jordan is ranked 9th in the world in the women’s -67kg class. She will be opening up her campaign against Brazilian Milena Titoneli, ranked 10th in what promises to be a great contest. Look out too for Egypt’s Heaya Wahba who starts her run in against world number six, Magda Wiet Henin from France.

Triathlon - men’s

Odaiba Marine Park

Out of the 56 athletes will be swimming 1,500m, cycling 40km and running 10km, we will be following a few athletes from the region.

The Shachar brothers, Sagiv and Ran, will be representing Israel. Mohamad Maso from Syria and Mehdi Essadiq from Morocco will be in the field.

Volleyball - men’s preliminary round

Ariake Arena

After their bruising 3-0 defeat to Rio 2016 gold medalists Brazil on Friday, Tunisia’s men will be looking to bounce back against France today.

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What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

A meeting of young minds

The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:

435 – UAE

2,000 – China

808 – United Kingdom

165 – Argentina

38 – Lebanon

16 – Saudi Arabia

16 – Bangladesh

6 – Ireland

3 – Egypt

3 – France

2 – Sudan

1 – Kuwait

1 – Australia
 

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Who has been sanctioned?

Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.

Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.

Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.

Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.

Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

Jewel of the Expo 2020

252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome

13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas

550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome

724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses

Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa

Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site

The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants

Al Wasl means connection in Arabic

World’s largest 360-degree projection surface

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed

Based: Muscat

Launch year: 2018

Number of employees: 40

Sector: Online food delivery

Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception 

 

 

 

Updated: July 26, 2021, 4:23 AM`