Special Olympics team rewarded

Manama : Bahrain’s Special Olympics team were treated to a special awarding ceremony after their outstanding performance at the recently-concluded 9th Special Olympics Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Games in Abu Dhabi.

The nationals made a solid impact in the UAE capital and took 39 medals in total, including 17 gold.

The highlights of the competition for Bahrain was their sprinter Aysha Alsubei, who led her four-member team to win the 4x100 metre women’s relay.

UAE’s Hamda Al Hosani’s power spurt in the final leg secured silver for the UAE. The Tunisian team took the bronze.

Aysha also captured the division 06 200-metre run, clocking 33.61 seconds to beat silver medallist Hamda Al Hosani of the UAE and third place Tunisian Rania Abidi.

Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant general secretary and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) general secretary Abdulrahman Askar led high-ranking sports officials at the awarding ceremony, staged at the Bahrain Sports Federation for People with Disabilities premises in Riffa.

Askar congratulated the team on this achievement, and conveyed the greetings and best wishes of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, and BOC President.

More than 1,000 athletes from 31 countries competed in 16 different sports hosted in eight different venues during the event, held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The Bahrainis now look to extend their impressive form at next year’s Special Olympic World Games, which will also be hosted in Abu Dhabi.