Tokyo Olympics and Arab Dreams of Gold are Hard to Come By

The Arab countries who participated in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games hold hopes on their continental and world champions to win the colorful medals.

Athletics, where Arabs have often climbed the podium in various competitions, looks the closest to achieving the goal.

Arab athletes taking part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are preparing to enter tough and highly competitive competitions in the hope of rising to the podium in Japan.

Throughout the history of the Olympic Games, Arabs claimed about 108 medals, including 26 gold, 27 silver, and 55 bronze.

Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo tournament comes during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted many continental and international sports competitions.

This makes it more difficult to prepare for the games but the passion for crowning remains the same.

The Arabs have several continentals and international champions to count on to raise their country’s flags in Tokyo.

In this article, we will be highlighting the most prominent Arab candidates for medals.

Egypt with the huge number of candidates in its history

Egypt in the Tokyo Olympics is looking for a new achievement to add to its record as they scored about 29 medals over 21 pre-Olympics editions.

The Egyptian Olympic mission includes 134 players competing in 24 sports.

The Egyptian mission is looking forward to receiving a medal through the highly developed handball team, the taekwondo and pentathlon teams as well as table tennis.

The youngest competitor in the Olympics

Hana Juda is the youngest Egyptian player at the Olympics at the age of 13, while she may become the second-youngest player in the history of the Olympics after 12-year-old Syrian hind Zaza, who qualified for the Olympics after winning gold at the West Asian Championships held in Jordan 2020.

Morocco bets on athletics

Morocco will be represented at the Tokyo tournament by 48 athletes competing in 18 competitions.

But athletics remains the biggest bet for a country that has been one of the pioneers in the sport in previous cycles of the Olympics.

The athletics team includes 15 runners, most notably Soufiane El-Bakkali, who is bidding for gold again and who Morocco has not won since Champion Hisham El-Krouj was crowned with two gold medals in the 1500 meters and 5000 meters at the Athens Olympics.

Archery is the hope for Kuwait

The Kuwaiti team is present with only ten athletes.

Kuwait hopes to ascend to the podium with the sport of archery, where it has won 4 medals representing its total participation in the Olympics since its inception in 1896.

The Tokyo Olympics will not be contested by the Golden Archer Fahid al-Dihani, with whom Kuwaiti achievements have been associated.

The archery will be represented by 4 champions who are widely expected to compete in earnest on the podium.

What is the secret of the Kuwaiti archery?

The president of the Kuwaiti and Arab archery federations Duaij Al-Otaibi has answered

“We depend on the most efficient shooters to represent Kuwait, and by keeping the management away from the controversies and conflicts that the sports movement in the country usually witness”.

Poor Emirati representation

The UAE is competing with a team of only six athletes, led by Saif bin Fatais, who participated for the first time in the Olympic skeet shooting competition.

Viktor Skretov competed in judo under 73 kg on July 26 while Ivan Romarenko competed in judo over 100 kg on July 30.

Youssef Al Matroushi also participated in the 100-meter freestyle competition

And finally, the Runner Hassan al Nubi drew the curtain on the UAE’s participation in the 100-meter sprint race

The women’s participation belongs to Fatima Al Hosani in the discus competition within the athletics competitions.

Iraq stays away from gold

Iraq’s chances of achieving an Olympic medal, for more than 60 years after its first medal, look difficult.

with a limited number of athletes qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.

The rower Mohammed Riad and short-distance runner Dana Hussein had to work hard during the covid-19 outbreak to make it to the Tokyo Games.

Iraqi representation will remain modest compared to a country of 40 million people.

The situation of the sports in Iraq refers to numerous obstacles, including the fact that the Olympic Committee was suspended for two years due to legal and political disagreements. As well as the lack of adequate equipment, equipment, and sports facilities in a country facing successive wars and crises since 1980.

In addition to all these reasons, the great challenges posed by the corona epidemic.