Bahrain bag three more gold!

TDT | Manama              

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain bagged three more gold medals last night as part of a four-medal haul on the third and penultimate day of the athletics competition at the 15th Arab Games in Algeria.

Bontu Rebitu, Winfred Yavi and the women’s sprint relay team all captured first place in their respective events, while the men’s sprint team clinched a silver medal in their relay race.

The Bahrainis’ four medals yesterday brought their overall tally after three days of action to 20 from all sports, including 11 gold, four silver and five bronze medals.

Seventeen of the medals have been won in track and field, while the other three were from athletics for people of determination and swimming.

Bontu won the women’s 10,000 metres last night to complete a long-distance double at the Arab Games, adding to the 5,000m title she won on day one. Bontu was in a class of her own, finishing the race nearly a minute ahead of her closest challenger.

She had a winning mark of 31 minutes 40.02 seconds. Soukaina Atanane of Morocco was the runner-up in 32:37.42, while Hanane Qallouj, also of Morocco, came third in 32:48.50.

Bahrain’s 2016 Olympic gold-medallist Ruth Jebet was fourth in 33:38.97. Winfred cruised to her gold medal in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase. She battled with Marwa Bouzayeni of Tunisia for the early parts of the race but eventually ran solo in its latter stages.

Winfred won her gold in a time of 9:04.58, with Marwa finishing as the silver-medallist in 9:17.28. Morocco’s Ikram Ouaaziz won the bronze in 9:43.57, beating out Bahrain’s Tigest Mekonen for the final podium place.

Tigest came fourth in 10:08.82.

Relay

In the women’s 4x100m relay final, the quartet of Fatima Mubarak, Edidiong Odiong, Zenab Mahamat and Hajar Alkhaldi triumphed in an ultra-quick time of 44.44 seconds.

It was the second gold for Edidiong, who also won the women’s 100m title. The Morocco relay team claimed the silver medals in 46.26s, while Algeria took bronze in 46.86s. The men had to settle for second in their 4x100m relay final.

Comprising Ebrahim Omar, Yaqoob Yaqoob, Husain Aldoseri and Saeed Alkhaldi, they were narrowly beaten by Oman’s sprint team, who won gold in 39.70s. The Bahrainis finished in 40.19s, while Algeria came third in 40.35s.

Meanwhile, Edidiong and Hajar maintained their sprint supremacy in their individual events. Edidiong powered into the 200m final after winning the first of two heats in 23.58 seconds. Hajar followed suit as she triumphed in the second heat, and was the quickest qualifier overall at 23.55s.

Also advancing to the final were Chaima Ouanis and Djamila Zine of Algeria, Salma Lehlali and Sara El Hachimi of Morocco, Mudhawi Alshammari of Kuwait and Aliya Boshnak of Jordan.

On the distaff, Bahrainis Yaqoob and Aldoseri qualified for the men’s 200m final. Competing in the first of two heats, Yaqoob finished his race in 21.10 seconds as the runner-up. Aldoseri was fourth in his race and advanced to the medal round as a lucky loser.

Only the top three from each race earned automatic berths while two lucky losers also went through. Joining Yaqoob and Aldoseri in the final are Taha Yaseen of Iraq, Skander Athmani and Adem-Abdelkader Benyache of Algeria, Rashid Alaasmi and Mohamed Alsadi of Oman and Chakir Machmour of Morocco.

Elsewhere last night, Bahrain’s Oumar Mahamat came fourth in the men’s triple jump final. He registered a best of 15.18m. Countryman Abdullah Djimel bowed out of the men’s 400m hurdles after finishing fifth in his semi-final heat in 53.68s, narrowly missing out on the medal round. Today will be the final night of the athletics competition, with Bahrain having the potential to win up to 10 gold medals.