Bahrain make spectacular start!

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain struck gold on the opening evening of the athletics competition last night at the 15th Arab Games, currently taking place in Algeria.

The Kingdom’s elite track and field stars captured six medals, including three gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

The gold medals were won by Bontu Rebitu in the women’s 5,000m, Marta Yota in the women’s 1,500m and Dawit Fikadu in the men’s 10,000m.

The lone silver medal was claimed by Abdelrahman Mahmoud in the men’s shot put, while the bronze medals were won by Roselidah Domongole in the women’s 5,000m and Fatima Mubarak in the women’s long jump.

The Bahrainis’ medal haul yesterday gave them a fantastic start to their campaign at the multi - sport Arab Games, which officially get underw a y today.

In the wome n ’ s 5,000m final, Bontu led from the race from the start, with Roselidah just behind her on her right shoulder.

After briefly switching places, Bontu powered back to the front and began to build a big gap.

She then ran solo over the latter stage of the race, even lapping one of her other competitors.

Bontu clinched her gold medal in a time of 15 minutes 02.22 seconds, with Soukaina Atanane of Morocco finishing second in 15:34.53.

Roselidah captured the bronze in 15:44.68. In the women’s 1,500m final, Marta claimed her gold medal with an impressive showing, virtually leading the entire race.

She had a comfortable gap as she made her way down the final straight, and she took first place in 4:15.30.

Wafa Zaroual of Morocco won the silver medal in 4:18.08, while Ghania Rezzik of Algeria took bronze in 4:20.33.

Fellow-Bahraini Manal Mohamed was also set to compete in the 1,500m final but did not start. In the men’s 10,000m final, which was last night’s concluding event on track, Fikadu captured gold after completing the distance in 29:08.80.

He finished ahead of Morocco’s Mohcin Outalha, who took silver in 29:17.40, while Youcef Addouche of Algeria was the bronze-medallist in 29:21.90.

Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew was also entered in the race, but he did not start. In the men’s shot put, Bahrain’s Mahmoud had a best throw of 19.17 metres to claim his silver medal.

Mostafa Hassan of Egypt clinched the gold medal with a top mark of 20.52m, while Musab Ibrahim Mohammad of Jordan claimed the bronze with a 17.18m throw.

Fatima came away with Bahrain’s second bronze medal last night in the women’s long jump, where she had a best effort of 6.09m.

Gold was claimed by Esraa Owis with a 6.54m mark, while Morocco’s Yousra Lajdoud was the runner-up in 6.44m.

Elsewhere yesterday, five Bahraini athletes advanced to their respective finals.

Oluwakemi Adekoya and Zenab Mahamat marched through to the women’s 400m medal round.

Oluwakemi comfortably cruised in heat one, winning in 52.51s.

Zenab followed suit but had a tougher challenge in heat two, finishing third in 54.92s.

In the men’s 400m, Abbas Ali and Musa Isah both made it through to the men’s 400m final.

Ali sprinted to a dominant win in heat one in 45.76s, while Isah was a close runner-up in the second heat in 46.03s.

In the men’s 100m heats, Saeed Alkhaldi powered through to the final after winning the second of two heats with a time of 10.27s.

Bahrain’s Ebrahim Omar, competing in heat one, could not make it through after a false start.