Gold rush for Bahrain in Doha

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s national athletics team enjoyed an incredible gold rush yesterday on the second day of the third West Asian Athletics Championships, currently being held at Suheim bin Hamad Stadium at Qatar SC in Doha.

Bahrainis Abdelrahman Mahmoud in the men’s shot put, Dawit Fikadu in the men’s 10,000m, Tigest Mekonen in the women’s 800m and Fatima Mubarak Issa in the women’s long jump all clinched gold medals in their respective events.

Meanwhile, Marta Hirpato Yota added a silver medal in the women’s 800m, while Abdulghani Mohammed Hameed also claimed a bronze medal in the men’s 10,000m. Their medal haul brought Bahrain’s tally after two days to six gold, one silver and one bronze.

Bahrainis Noora Salem Jasim and Bontu Rebitu had earlier clinched gold in the women’s shot put and women’s 10,000m, respectively. In the men’s shotput, Mahmoud clinched his gold with a best throw of 20.65 metres.

The runner-up from Iraq had a 17.55m mark, as did the Qatari bronze-medallist. In the men’s 10,000m, Fikadu powered to first place in a winning race time of 29 minutes 08.75 seconds. Hameed claimed the bronze in 30:10.53.

Tigest captured the gold in the women’s 800m in 2:07.09, while Marta was not far behind for the silver in 2:08.40. A Kuwaiti athlete joined them on the podium for bronze in 2:14.39. In the women’s long jump, Fatima had a best jump of 5.89 metres to secure first place.

Action in the championship continues today, with the final day of competition tomorrow. Bahrain are one of 12 countries taking part in Doha. The others are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and hosts Qatar.