By Staff Reporter
UAE swimmer Yousef Al Matrooshi finished 44th in the 100-metre freestyle heats at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
As many as 79 swimmers took part in the 100-metre freestyle event at the 2024 Games.
The 21-year-old swimmer may have failed to qualify for the next round, but he managed to set a new personal best time of 50:39, the UAE National Olympic Committee announced on X.
Al Matrooshi had gone into a Paris Olympics after completing a training programme set by Marwan Al Hattawi, national swimming team coach, focusing on mental and psychological aspects.
Meanwhile, UAE judoka Talal Shafili lost his preliminary round bout to Puerto Rican champion Gandia Adrian in the under 81kg category on Tuesday.
The UAE’s campaign at the Olympics began on Sunday when swimmer Maha Al Shehhi finished 28th in the 200m freestyle event, breaking her previous personal record (2:17.37) with a new time of 2:17.17 minutes.
Judoka Khorloodoi Bishrelt was also in action on Sunday as he lost in the round of 16 to Germany’s Mascha Ballhaus, the bronze medallist at the 2024 Abu Dhabi World Championship.
Narmand Bayan, another UAE judoka, was eliminated in the round of 32 in the under 66kg category by South Korea’s An Baul.
A 14-member team of athletes is representing the UAE at the Paris Olympics.
Equestrian rider Omar Al Marzouqi and cyclist Safiya Al Sayegh had the honour of carrying the UAE’s flag during the opening ceremony on Friday.
Al Marzouqi is the brightest medal medal hope for the UAE in Paris.
The 21-year-old, a silver medallist in individual showjumping at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, helped the UAE claim team bronze in last year’s Asian Games where he also won a silver medal in the individual competition.
The UAE’s national equestrian team will compete with 20 other teams in the show jumping competition which will start in the first week of August. The show-jumping event will be followed by the individual competitions on August 5-6.
Safiya Al Sayegh, the first female Emirati cyclist to qualify for the Olympics, will be in action in the road race at the Paris Games on August 4.
