Bahrain shoots down third gold

Manama : The Kingdom of Bahrain claimed its third gold medal at the fourth edition of the Arab Women Sports Tournament (AWST), being held in Sharjah.

The nationals dominated the 10m air rifle shooting event and topped the standings with 1844.7 points, just ahead of silver medallists Kuwait (1823.4), who came second, while the bronze was won by Oman (1817.2).

In the singles, Bahrain’s Marwa Al Amiri was runner-up to clinch the competition’s silver scoring 240.4 points. Kuwait’s Maryam Al Marzooqi (244.6) won the gold, while Omani Siham Nasser (219.4) took the bronze.

Bahrain chef de mission Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa shared members of the team their celebration and congratulated them on the gold medal victory after the awarding ceremony.

Meanwhile, Bahrain Club table tennis team suffered a 0-3 defeat to Kuwait as they kick-started their campaign at Sharjah Ladies Club.

Bahrain’s Maryam Al Qasmi lost her first match to Noora Majid (2-3), then Hessa Al Zayani went down 0-3 to Maryam Sulaiman as Kuwait went up 2-0.

The Kuwaitis were the stronger side as Shaikha Al Hamad secured the victory beating Bahraini Maryam Al Balooshi 3-0.

Bahrain play Mu’ta Club of Jordan in their second match on Wednesday.

Bahrain is sending eight teams to the tournament, being organised for the fourth successive time. Other sports include fencing, karate, volleyball, basketball, archery, athletics.

A total of 68 teams from 16 countries, represented by more than 1,000 athletes are taking part in the event.

In addition to Bahrain, other countries taking part are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Somalia and Djibouti and hosts the UAE.