Bahrain capture double gold

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain struck gold twice last night on the opening day of the third West Asian Athletics Championships, being held at Suheim bin Hamad Stadium at Qatar SC in Doha.

Bahrainis Noora Salem Jasim and Bontu Rebitu each came away with the gold medals in their respective events.

Noora captured the title in the women’s shot put, while Bontu won her crown in the women’s 10,000 metres.

The pair were the only two Bahrainis in action yesterday at the Qatari capital, where Bahrain are one of 12 national teams from across the region taking part.

In the women’s shot put, Noora was dominant in clinching first place, registering a best throw of 15.05 metres.

The silver-medallist from the UAE had a mark of 11.91m, while the bronze-medallist from Kuwait put in a top throw of 11.39m.

In the women’s 10,000m, Bontu was also in a class of her own, completing the race in a total time of 34 minutes 43.84 seconds. The runner-up from Iraq finished far behind in 44:46.27.

With the women’s 10,000m gold secured, Bontu will be looking for a long-distance double when she competes in the women’s 5,000m final tomorrow.

Bahrain have an eight-athlete squad in Qatar.

Set to compete today are Dawit Fikadu and Abdulghani Mohammed Hameed in the men’s 10,000m final, while Abdelrahman Mahmoud will be going for gold in the men’s shot put.

Amongst the women today, Fatima Mubarak Issa will be contesting the women’s long jump, while Marta Hirpato Yota will be running in the women’s 800m final.

Also in the West Asian event for Bahrain is Tigest Mekonen, who will be running the women’s 1,500m.

The other countries taking part in Doha are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and hosts Qatar.

The meeting is scheduled to conclude on Saturday.

Juniors

Meanwhile, Bahrain’s youth national athletics team kick off their participation today in the fifth Asian U18 Athletics Championships, being held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Four of the Kingdom’s five upand-coming athletes are set to take to the track in their respective races.

They include Maysa Al Tamimi and Laila Kamal in the girls’ 100m, and Abbas Mohammed in the boys’ 100m, who will each begin their medal bids in the heats.

Abdulaziz Mohammed will also be in action.

He will be going for gold in the boys’ 1,500m final, which will feature 13 athletes in all.

Bahrain’s athletes are among 524 boys and girls, representing 40 countries, taking part in the event.