Zaynab, Ali clinch title

Zaynab Ahmed a Hafsa School student yesterday was crowned champion of the table tennis championship primary stage singles after defeating Fatma Ahmed also from the same school 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-5) in the final played at the Bahrain Table Tennis Association in Riffa on the fourth day of the 2015 School Mini Olympics.

In the third place match, Maryam Ali of Al Bilad Al Qadeem School proved too strong for her school rival Rawan Hashim 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 13-11) after a well-contested tie to clinch third place and the competitions’ bronze medal.

In the boys’ primary stage section, which saw 64 players in the fray, Ali Hasan Khalaf of Al Noor International School lifted the trophy thanks to a 3-2 (11-7, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8) win over Sayed Hadi Alawi of Budaiya School.

Ali Younes of Jaber School rounded off the podium defeating the other semi-final loser Khalid Abdulhameed 3-0 (11-9, 11-3, 11-1) for third-place and the bronze.

The finals of the intermediate stage for boys and girls are scheduled for today from 9am onwards at the Bahrain Table Tennis Association in Riffa.

Meanwhile, the athletics events will be held today from 4pm onwards and feature competition in 60m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 1,000m, 1,200m, 4x60m, high jump, long jump and shot put.

Swimming finals are also set to take place today from 4pm onwards at the Bahrain Swimming Association premises in Isa Town and competitions include 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 50m breaststroke, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 4x50m relay.

The mini Olympics are being organised for a second successive year by the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) in cooperation with the Education Ministry and the national sports associations. It aims to spread and promote the values and principles of the Olympic among government and private schools in the Kingdom, and motivate them to practice sports activities and follow a healthy life style. Among other objectives is to discover promising sports talent, build a solid foundation and involve them in competitive sporting activities organised by sports clubs and associations, as well as to establish competitive sports activities at schools.