Al Hamad becomes first female Qatar Olympian
July 28th, 2012 - 7:08 pm ICT by IANSLondon, July 28 (IANS) Two points away from reaching the women’s 10m air rifle final, Bahya Mansour Al Hamad still made history by becoming the first female Olympian of Qatar.
The 20-year-old, dressed in headscarf, who carried the flag of Qatar in the opening ceremony, continued to steal the limelight in the first Olympics medal awarding event, reports Xinhua.
Al Hamad struck a nine to start her competition and scored 395 points to miss the chance for the final eight spot.
Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia and Brunei, were the only International Olympic Committee (IOC) countries to have never sent a female competitor to the Olympics but all have women participating in London.
Al Hamad, who received a wild card to take part, is not the only woman competing for Qatar in London. Sprinter Noor Al-Malki and swimmer Nada Arakji will represent the nation, which failed to make the cut in the bidding to host the 2020 Olympics but plan to try again for 2024.
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Tags: 10m air rifle, 2020 olympics, al hamad, bahya, female competitor, first olympics, flag of qatar, headscarf, international olympic committee, ioc, limelight, london al, malki, noor, olympics medal, opening ceremony, saudi arabia, sprinter, wild card, xinhua