Bahraini athletes excel in global meets

TDT | Manama                                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s top international athletes had plenty of reasons to celebrate in their respective events held around the world.

Bahrainis Birhanu Balew and Violah Jepchumba were both triumphant in their senior-level road races in Europe while youngster Layla Kamal captured a bronze medal in the girls’ 200 metres at the fifth Asian U18 Athletics Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Balew powered to a superb win in the men’s five-kilometre road race at the adizero Road to Records event, held in Herzogenaurach, Germany, on Saturday.

To add to his victory, Balew also came close to setting a personal best in the distance. Balew took first place after storming past Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in a stunning finish to win in 13 minutes 06 seconds—not far behind his previous record mark of 13:02.

Kejelcha had the same finishing time as the runner-up, while Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi finished third in 13:11. Meanwhile, Violah had a brilliant triumph in the Marathon International de Rabat 2023 yesterday in Morocco.

Violah sprinted to a finishing time of one hour 08 minutes 44 seconds. The current Asian half-marathon record holder was well of her fastest mark of 1:05:22 for the 21.1-kilometre race, but it was enough for her win.

Rachael Zena Chebet of Uganda finished in second place in 1:08:46 while her compatriot Rispa Cherop came third in 1:08:53. In the Uzbek capital, Layla clinched third place in her 200m race after finishing the sprint in 24.48 seconds. It was her second medal of the competition after also coming away with the girls’ 100m gold medal on Saturday.

The Bahrainis thus wrapped up their participation in the Asian youth event with two medals, both won by Layla. The event came to an end last night with a closing ceremony. Bahrain’s athletes were amongst 524 boys and girls, representing 40 countries, who took part in the event.