Talent is not contingent upon accessories – Nader outruns PB with borrowed spikes
Nadal el Masri, the emphatic 5000m runner from Gaza is contended with his performance at the Asian Games despite of the fact that the guy did not have his own running shoes and had to borrow a pair of spikes from a Qatari athlete.
Disregarding the material deficiencies and completely relying upon his potential to outperform at an international event, Masri depicted his personal best (PB) in Guangzhou, China. He managed to make it to the finishing line in 14 minutes and 25.04 seconds.
However, he could only finish for the 12th position in the race.
The deteriorated socioeconomic conditions and consistent torments from the occupying neighbour Israel have remained failed to root out the lingering passion of Masri for becoming a world class long distance runner as the athlete has expressed his desires
for having the facilities to be trained under the guidance of experienced coaches, just like his counterparts from neighbouring countries Jordan and Egypt.
Disclosing about his soul stirring passion for the sport, the poor runner from Gaza said: “I practice on the roads of Gaza as we don’t have good stadiums and tracks so I gave my best.”
Impressed by the stadiums and sporting structures in Guangzhou, the passionate athlete hoped for having similar facility back in Gaza as well; the dream which is less likely to prevail amid being contingent upon the wills of worst tormentors in the world.
However, keeping his morale alive and high, he stated that for the time being his entire focus was to prepare for the London Olympics. In this regard, he had also sent requests to both Egypt and Jordan back in August, but three months and an important world
class event down the line; he is still waiting for a reply. In fact not even the issue of finding a pair of spikes could be resolved for him.
“In Palestine we can’t find a pair of shoes of such material. In Guangzhou I didn’t have time to go and look for shoes, so I decided to borrow them from my Qatari friend” told Masri upon the inquiry of a reporter representing an international sports
channel before the Palestinian runner.
El Masri’s perseverance and consistence for performing well into athletics has brought him recognition back at home as he had been perhaps the only athlete from Palestine which has represented the country at Doha Asian Games back in 2006 and then in Beijing
Olympics in 2008. While talking to the media personnel he expressed the desire to make his country feel proud by depicting an impressive performance at such huge world sporting events. Besides Masri, the athletes from other Gulf countries like Bahrain and
Qatar also participated in long distances races.
The men’s 5000m race culminated with Kenyan-born runner Mehboob Ali Hasan fetching the gold. Hasan was representing Bahrain in the race. The silver medal of the event was claimed by James Kwalai while Felix Kibore, another Kenyan-born runner representing
Qatar in the event successfully bagged the bronze medal in the event.
Though there had been much debates over the issue of the athletes like Hasan and Kibor preventing the Asian runners from representing their respective countries, but Masri seemed least bothered about the issue.
Sharing his remarks over the issue, the indifferent looking Palestinian runner said: “These Countries pay them good money so they represent them and if international federations have no issues then what can we do.” However he expressed his belief
that better facilities really made a difference in depicting the required level of performances.
Giving his concluding remarks, Masri was of the view that if he were to have the support from Palestinian Olympic Committee or Palestinian Federation, he may be able to become a far better runner than those who had grabbed medals for Qatar and Bahrain.
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