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Paris Olympics: UAE's Yousef Al Matrooshi ready for 100m freestyle event

UAE judoka Talal Shafili will face Puerto Rican champion Gandia Adrian in the under 81kg preliminary round on Tuesday

Published: Mon 29 Jul 2024, 6:52 PM

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UAE swimmer Yousef Al Matrooshi. — Photo courtesy UAE National Olympic Committee

UAE swimmer Yousef Al Matrooshi. — Photo courtesy UAE National Olympic Committee

The UAE athletes will be back in action on Tuesday at the Paris Olympics following their participation in judo and swimming events on Sunday.

Emirati swimmer Yousef Al Matrooshi will compete in the 100m freestyle heats which include 79 swimmers.


Among Al Matrooshi's competitors on Tuesday is Chinese Olympic champion Pan Zhanle, who won the gold medal in the 4x100m relay in Paris with a time of 46.92 seconds. Pan is the fifth swimmer in history to record under 47 seconds in the 100m freestyle, having also won seven medals at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Al Matrooshi has completed his preparations for the 100m freestyle race following a training program set by Marwan Al Hattawi, national swimming team coach, focusing on mental and psychological aspects.

"The preparations for the Paris Olympics have gone very well with my university team in the USA this summer. I had a specific training plan from my arrival until the race,” said Al Matrooshi.

“The plan included aerobic and speed sessions, essential and activation exercises, focusing on specific race elements such as the start. My training is going well, and I have quickly adapted to the competition pool."

Meanwhile, UAE judoka Talal Shafili will face Puerto Rican champion Gandia Adrian in the under 81kg preliminary round on Tuesday.

On Sunday, judoka Khorloodoi Bishrelt was eliminated in the round of 16 by 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 veteran player An Baul.

Swimmer Maha Al Shehhi finished 28th in the 200m freestyle event on Sunday, breaking her previous personal record (2:17.37) with a new time of 2:17.17 minutes.

Equestrian rider Omar Al Marzouqi and cyclist Safiya Al Sayegh carried the UAE's flag during the opening ceremony on Friday.

Al Marzouqi, who won the silver medal in individual showjumping at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in 2018, helped the UAE claim team bronze and won a silver medal in the individual competition at the Asian Games last year.

The UAE's national equestrian team is set to 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.

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