Hopes high for Olympics

Manama : The Kingdom’s biggest delegation with 36 athletes, 22 male and 14 female, including 32 others have qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio De Janerio, Brazil starting today.

HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, First Deputy President of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport, West Asian Athletics Association President and President of Bahrain Athletic Federation, expressed his pride at the historic participation of Bahrain in the 31st Olympic Games.

Shaikh Khalid looks forward to the Kingdom winning several medals, especially in athletics and to surpass the London 2012 Olympics results and pointed out the Kingdom of Bahrain’s participation is not confined to competition, as the participation of the Kingdom comes under the directives of the wise leadership of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Work and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of Bahrain Olympic Committee, on the importance of brotherhood between people, to consolidate relations between various athletes of the world, pointing out that sport is the best way for different cultures to get together and contribute to peace at these sports gatherings.

Shaikh Khalid thanked Shaikh Nasser for the unlimited support to the Bahrain Athletics Association during the last four years, which has resulted in a series of achievements at the regional, continental and international levels.

Shaikh Khalid stated the achievements and successes over the past four years in the World U20 Championships America in 2014 and Poland in 2016, the Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea in 2014, the Indoors World Championship, the Diamond League and a series Arab Championships raises the optimism level in achieving positive results in this Olympics.

Since taking over as head of the Bahrain Athletics Association, Shaikh Khalid said he took it upon his shoulders to establish foreign training camps for athletes, providing them with the opportunities to go to many meets and championships which qualified them to compete in the Olympics.