Bahrain's rising star Amani Alobaidli bags her third medal at 15th Arab Games

TDT | Manama                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s rising star in swimming Amani Alobaidli claimed her third medal of the 15th Arab Games, currently being held in Algeria. Competing in the women’s 50 metres backstroke, Amani captured the silver medal, finishing in a time of 29.64 seconds.

She was a close runner-up to Amel Melih of Algeria, who captured the gold in 29.28s, while Valerie Tarazi of Palestine came away with the bronze medal in 29.78s. Bahrain’s Noor Taha was also amongst the six swimmers in the race.

She was classified fifth with a time of 31.97s. With her 50m backstroke silver, Amani claimed her second silver medal of the competition, adding to the one she won in the women’s 100m backstroke.

Amani had also clinched a bronze medal in the women’s 200m backstroke, and she will still be competing over the last days of swimming for a chance to win more medals. Amani’s silver medal brought Bahrain’s tally for the Arab Games to 31 medals in all sports.

These include 15 gold medals, nine silver medals and seven bronze medals. It was Bahrain’s fourth medal won in swimming. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Adnan Hasan qualified for the final of the men’s singles category in badminton.

Hasan secured his berth after defeating Youcef Sabri Medel of Algeria 21-11, 21-14 in their semi-final confrontation. In table tennis, Bahrain’s women’s and men’s teams made winning starts to their bids.

The team of Maryam Al A’ali, Fatima Al A’ali, Phadke Amruta and Rayan Rashed won 3-0 against their counterparts from Jordan. Both teams are in a league-type competition, which also includes Algeria, Iraq and Palestine, with the teams determining their final ranking after a single round-robin.

For the men, they defeated their counterparts from Palestine 3-0. The Bahrainis included Mohamed Saleh, Salman Abuhamada, Rashed Rashed, Alyassi Alyas and Sayed Murtadha Mahfoodh.

This year’s Arab Games will be held under the theme “With sports we progress and compete, in Algeria we meet”, and it will feature around 6,000 athletes from the competing Arab countries.

There are 23 sports in all at the Arab Games, including three for people of determination, across 245 events. The tournament is being held under the supervision of the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees, with the aim of cementing the unity of Arab youth, strengthening friendship among Arab people, and reinforcing the principles of the Arab Olympic Movement.

The last time the Arab Games were held was in 2011 in Doha, when Bahrain captured 37 medals, including 12 gold, 10 silver and 15 bronze, according to the BOC. Bahrain also took part in the 2007, 2004, 1999, 1992 , 1985 and 1976 editions of the Games.