Manama, Japan, October 24, 2025: The President of Asian Athletics Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad is keeping an eye on the future of the sport at the 3rd Asian Youth Games in Bahrain – and he is optimistic of the continent’s prospects.
“These Games are the cornerstone for the future, not just in athletics, but across all the other sports, as it will give an indication of what talent is out there,” says Qatari Al Hamad, who is in Manama for all four days of the athletic competitions, which reached the halfway mark on Friday, October 24.
“It is really important to see and follow the athletes because this is where it all starts. Countries also know that the objective is to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar next year, and I think everybody is taking this event seriously,” noted Al Hamad.
There were several notable performance on Friday night, among them North Korea’s Kang Ryon Hui winning a gold medal in the Girls’ 2000m Steeplechase in a Games record of six minutes 37.88 seconds, Chinese-Taipei’s Huang Kai-lun winning the Boys’ High Jump with 2.05m, and United Arab Emirates duo Arwa Ashar and Aisha Tariq winning gold medals in the Girls’ 100m (11.45) and 400m finals (54.26), respectively.
China also continued its gold medal-winning run by winning five golds, bringing home the Boys’ 5000m Walk title thanks to Zhang Haoze, Wang Xinyi winning the Girls’ Discus Throw, Wu Huaichu the Boys’ Javelin, Yang Jia the Boys’ 400m race, and Lai Jianguang taking the blue riband 100m event for Boys’ with a time of 10.56.
This young talent emerging from countries not considered traditional Asian powers will thrill Al Hamad who was elected as Asian Athletics chief in 2013. Now in his third term, the Qatari says Asia is entering a promising new phase in the development of athletics.
“First we need to admit that Asia is still a baby when compared to Europe or America. They started a long time ago. In Asia we have 45 countries, and the level of economy, of the people, varies. These are challenges and will remain challenges, but I’m confident,” he said.
Al Hamad outlined his vision. A seven-year strategic development plan launched in 2023 has resulted in the continent being divided into five zones, similar to the OCA regions - East Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and South Asia – and with specific standards set to raise skill and performance levels.
“If countries participate straight away at the Asian level, they will not make it for sure because there are limited resources, but within their own region they can do something. The objective is to encourage Governments to look at the sport and support it.”
Al Hamad said the recent spate of good results was evidence of Asia catching up, and even surpassing Europe, in several field events, pointing to India’s Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem in javelin, Qatari high-jump star Mutaz Barshim, and Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok.
Al Hamad said: “We have good athletes in Asia, winning World Championships and gold medals at the Olympics. Asia rules the javelin event now. But this is only the beginning, we need to have more and we need to believe that talent doesn’t only come from big nations but can come from any place in Asia. I believe Asia is moving.”
