BASKTEBALL WOMEN QUALIFY TO ASHGABAT 2017 QUARTERS

The highlight of a busy day of action for Jordan at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games was a superb performance by the women’s 3x3 Basketball team who have reached the quarter-finals.
The women beat the Cook Islands 17-16 in a thrilling match that guaranteed passage to the knock-out stages, despite losing their second Group match 17-12 to Uzbekistan.
It has been a crucial learning curve for the male team in their long-term development after theur finished with two defeats today to Qatar (21-9) and (21-12). The players are all aged U18 and will have gained plenty of experience from their Ashgabat experience as they continue to bid for Youth Olympic qualification.
SWIMMERS DIVE IN
It was a mixed day for Jordan’s swimmers with several reaching the finals, but were unable to pressure the medal places.
Two-time Olympian Talita Baqleh finished eighth in the finals of 50m Freestyle in 25.97 seconds.
Lara Al Oklok qualified to the final of the 200m medley but also finished eighth in the final, clocking 2:35.59.
Mohammad Bedour missed out in the 50m Freestyle after finishing fifth in 25.97 seconds. The Women’s 4x50 relay team also missed out on the finals.
Still to come Saturday though are Seif Hatabeh and Amro Al Wer in the 50m breaststroke, while Lydia Al Safadi and Yasmeen Al Bedour will compete in backstroke. Mohammad Bedour and Khaled Awadallah will compete in 50m backstroke. Also, the men’s team will compete in 4x100relay.
JORDAN SET FOR JAPAN FUTSAL CHALLENGE
Jordan will play Japan in the quarterfinal of Futsal on Saturday.
The team secured a spot after finishing second in Group D behind Iran, following wins over Kyrgyzstan and Tahiti.
NATIONAL RECORD FOR WEIGHLIFTERS
The weightlifters launched their campaign with a new national record set by Khalid Al Abbudi.
The 18-year-old finished seventh in Group B, but his 115kg in the Snatch and 145kg in the Clean and Jerk set a new national record for his age category.
Meanwhile, teammate Malik Musa missed lifted 131kg and had 160kg in the clean and Jerk finish third in his group.
Raed Al Khawaldeh will compete on Sunday in the 105kg category.
CHESS CONTINUES IN ASHGABAT
In Chess, Ghaida Al Attar two matches while Bushra Al Shuaibi won one and lost one.
In the men’s, both Ahmad Al Khateeb and Seif Malik lost both matches.
Tomorrow, the team will continue their competition which will end on Sunday.
ABU TAYYEH OUT IN FRENCH BILLIARDS
Mashour Abu Tayyeh lost his quarter-final match in French Billiards after losing to Vietnam’s Neung Ngeung.
Jordan also lost snooker’s team event 3-1 to Thailand.
The Kingdom meets Qatar tomorrow for the 9Ball team competition.
KICKBOXERS TO LAUNCH ASHGABAT CAMPAIGN
The Kickboxing team will launch their campaign Saturday with 10 athletes representing Jordan on Day one.
Omar Abu Al Rub (-69kb), Ibrahim Suleiman (-57kg), Oday Abu Hassweh (-67kg), Ali Khalaf (-75kg), Hamzeh Abu Ghazaleh (-51kg), Muhannad Jehad (69kg), Ma’en Al Btoush (-74kg), Mohammad Salameh (-81kg) and the only female Reham Abu Ghazaleh (-55kg) are all in action.