Bahrain strike gold in West Asia Para Games

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain came away with several medals yesterday, headlined by Issa Khaled Marjan striking gold in the boccia competition, at the third West Asia Para Games, being hosted by Bahrain under the patronage of 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 Chief of the Bahrain Olympic Committee.

Marjan’s triumph earned Bahrain’s athletes their first and only gold medal of the competition so far, with yesterday’s other medals also coming in boccia as well as in athletics.

Marjan’s gold was one of four medals in boccia. A silver medal was claimed by Mohammed Al Haddar, while bronze medals were won by Nouf Khalifa and Hazem Qarouni.

Also yesterday, Bahrain registered a bright start to the athletics competition by winning a series of medals.

Maryam Saber won a silver in the discus throw, while Abdulla Adel clinched a bronze in the same event.

Hussain Mohammed won a silver in the 100 metres, while countrymen Ali Ahmed and Sayed Sadiq Jaafar each won bronze medals in their respective 100m race classes.

The athletics events were in their first day of action yesterday at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.

Meanwhile, Bahrain had mixed results in the team sports yesterday.

In goalball, Bahrain won big against Yemen 11-1 but then lost to their Saudi Arabian counterparts 3-13.

The Saudis then claimed their second win of the day, beating Qatar 5-4, while Iraq beat Jordan 7-5.

Today, the two goalball semi-final matches are scheduled to take place. In wheelchair basketball, Bahrain went down fighting to favourites Kuwait 50-60. In another game, Saudi beat Oman 20-0.

The Kuwaitis claimed their fourth win in a row from as many fixtures, maintaining their perfect record and improving to eight points at the top of the standings.

The Bahrainis suffered their second loss to go with one win and have two points.

Saudi claimed their first win to go to two points, while Oman remained on zero markers.

Meanwhile, in the table tennis singles, Iraq’s Ali Al Saadi won the gold medal after beating Saudi’s Fawaz Ajram.

The West Asia Para Games feature 700 male and female athletes from 11 countries, namely hosts Bahrain, Saudi, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon.

There are seven different sports in the Games, namely athletics, wheelchair basketball, boccia, goalball, table tennis, badminton, and weightlifting