UAE athlete Laila Ahmed qualifies for World U20 Championships

May 29, 2026 / 9:31 AM

Sharjah24: The UAE Athletics Federation has announced the qualification of sprinter Laila Ahmed for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, scheduled to take place in Oregon, United States, from 4 to 9 August 2026. Her qualification raises the UAE’s tally of qualified athletes to 10 so far.

Laila secured qualification after recording the qualifying time of 11.78 seconds during the preliminary heats of the women’s 100m event at the 22nd Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, currently running until 1 June.

Ten UAE athletes qualified so far

The federation noted that she joins nine other qualified athletes: Abdullah Mashhood, Abdulqadoos Ali, Arwa Ali, Mariam Karim, Sulaiman Abdulrahman, Aminat Qamar Al Din, Aisha Mohammed, Ezza Nasser, and Saeed Omar.

The athletes achieved the required qualification standards through their participation in the 3rd West Asian Under-20 Championships in Beirut 2025, the 3rd Asian Youth Games Bahrain 2025, and the Arab Under-20 Championships Tunisia 2026.