Gold rush for Bahrainis at 15th Arab Games

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain’s fantastic start to the 15th Arab Games continued yesterday, winning another 10 medals, including five gold, on the second day of action in Algeria.

The medal haul included seven in athletics, four of which were gold, another silver and two bronze medals.

Another gold was won in athletics for people of determination, while a silver and bronze medal were captured in swimming.

Yesterday’s 10 medals brought Bahrain’s tally to 16 over two days of competition so far.

These include eight gold, three silver and five bronze medals.

In athletics last night, the four gold medals were bagged by Edidiong Odiong in the women’s 100 metres, Oluwakemi Adekoya in the women’s 400m, Aminat Jamal in the women’s 100m hurdles and Saeed Alkhaldi in the men’s 100m.

Hajar Alkhaldi claimed the silver in the women’s 100m, while Zouhair Aouad won bronze in the men’s 1,500m as well as Musa Isah in the men’s 400m.

Bahrain’s gold yesterday in athletics for people of determination was claimed by Elias Alyassi in the 100m; while Amani Alobaidli and Saud Ebrahim captured the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in swimming.

In the women’s 100m final, Edidiong led a fantastic onetwo for Bahrain after finishing in 11.27 seconds.

Hajar followed right behind her in 11.35s, while Mudhaw Alshammari of Kuwait took bronze in 11.56s. Oluwakemi claimed her 400m gold medal after finishing her race in 51.02s.

Salma Lehlali of Morocco was her closest challenger in 52.98s, while Sara El Hachimi, also of Morocco, took the bronze in 53.38s.

Zenab Mahamat came close to making it two Bahrainis on the podium, but she had to settle for fourth place in 53.99s. 

In the women’s 100m hurdles final, Aminat struck gold with a 13.56s performance.

Rahil Hamel of Algeria won silver, also in 13.56s, while Noura Ennadi of Morocco took bronze in 13.67s. Bahrain’s Saleha Lahdan came seventh in 15.59s.

In the men’s 100m final, Alkhaldi claimed his gold medal after powering to a finishing time of 10.22s.

He narrowly beat out Chakir Machmour of Morocco by two hundredths of a second, while Barakat Al Harthi of Oman took the bronze in 10.37s.

In the men’s 1,500m final, Aouad claimed his bronze medal after completing the race in three minutes 38.17 seconds.

Abdellatif Sadiki and Fouad Messaoudi made it a Moroccan one-two in 3:37.61 and 3:37.99, respectively.

Bahrain’s Mohammed Tiouali was also in the fray, but he did not finish the race.

The men’s 400m final wrapped up last night’s programme on track, and Isah managed to claim the bronze in 45.85s.

Ashraf Osman of Qatar won gold in 45.26s while Hamza Dair of Morocco clinched the silver medal in 45.81s.

Bahrain’s Abbas Ali was right behind the top three, finishing fourth in 45.92s.

In other athletics events yesterday, Noora Jasim came up short in her medal bid in the women’s discus throw final, finishing with a best throw of 40.98m.

Marwan Madani was also close to winning another medal for Bahrain, but he finished fourth in the men’s discus throw final with a best effort of 55.37m.

In athletics for people of determination, Alyassi finished his 100m race in a winning time of 11.87s.

In swimming, Amani clinched the silver medal in the women’s 100m backstroke. She was the runner-up after finishing her race in 1:05.06.

Valerie Tarazi of Palestine won gold in 1:04.22, while Kawthar Zitouni of Algeria clinched the bronze in 1:06.35.

Bahrain’s Noor Taha also competed in the race, taking sixth in 1:10.87.

Ebrahim claimed Bahrain’s swimming bronze in the men’s 100m breaststroke, finishing in 1:05.69.

Amro Basil Alwir of Jordan won in 1:01.56, while Moncef Aymen of Algeria bagged the silver in 1:03.03.