Bahrain dominate Arab cross country meet

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain captured seven gold medals yesterday in an impressive 14-medal haul to dominate the 24th edition of the Arab Cross Country Championship, held at Rashid Equestrian and Horseracing Club (REHC) in Sakhir.

Elite international athletes Winfred Yavi and Zouhair Awad clinched their respective titles in the senior women’s and men’s races, as did Bahrainis Ismail Abdulrazzaq in the junior men’s race and Humaid Mohammed Abdulghani in the youth men’s event.

Bahrain then also came away with the gold medals in the senior men’s and women’s teams' categories, as well as in the junior men’s teams.

Present at the event last night and awarding the winners their medals was His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of the General Sports Authority and Chairman of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC).

BOC vice-president His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa was also on hand.

Bahrain’s seven gold medals were part of their 14-medal haul from the competition.

They also won four silver medals through Damaris Mutua, Birhanu Balew, Sulaiman Abdulsamad and Hamsi Moalin; as well as three bronze, which was clinched by returning former Olympic champion Ruth Jebet, Abdi Mohammed and the Kingdom’s youth men’s team. Impressive performances In the senior women’s race held over 10 kilometres, Winfred put in a world-class performance to clinch first place with a winning time of 36 minutes 58.61 seconds.

She led four other Bahrainis who all finished behind her in the top five.

Damaris was the runner-up in 37:31.90, while Ruth took the bronze medal in 37:43.90.

Bahrain’s brilliant finish— which saw the Kingdom’s athletes also take fourth and fifth— helped them claim the senior women’s teams gold medal, while Morocco won the silver and Algeria the bronze. In the senior men’s race, Awad finished first at 31:27.53 over 10km.

Balew claimed the silver in 31:29.73.

Bahrainis Albert Rop and Dawit Fikadu narrowly missed out on the individual podium as they followed in fourth and fifth, respectively. Rop completed the distance in 31:40.58 and Fikadu had a finishing time of 32:08.13 in fifth.

With their top classifications, Bahrain captured the senior men’s teams gold, while Morocco were the silver-medallists and Algeria took the bronze.

In the junior men’s race, held over eight km, Bahrain made another clean sweep of the individual medals, with Ismail Abdulrazzaq taking the gold in 26:03.88.

Hamsi Moalin clinched the silver in 26:04.07, while Abdi Mohammed captured the bronze in 26:09.17.

The Bahrainis thus came away with the junior men’s teams gold, with Morocco and Algeria the silver and bronze-medallists.

In the junior women’s race over six km, Morocco’s Fatima Al Mufid won in 25:05.07, helping her team claim gold ahead of runners-up Algeria.

In the youth races, Bahrain’s Abdulghani clinched men’s gold after six km in 17:58.76, while teammate Abdulsamad won the silver in 18:47.92. Their top two finishes weren’t enough for the team's gold medal, however, as they had to settle for bronze.

Morocco took first place and Algeria second. The women’s youth race, held over four km, was won by Morocco’s Heba Ghazlan in 14:46.18, which helped them take the team's gold and Algeria claim the silver.