FORMER Olympic gold-medallist and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Sebastian Coe arrived in Bahrain yesterday to attend an IAAF Gender Leadership Taskforce meeting.
He was greeted upon his arrival by Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) secretary general Abdulrahman Askar, Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) vice-president Mohammed Jalal and other high-ranking BOC and BAA officials.
The IAAF Gender Leadership Taskforce meeting began at Sheraton Hotel in Manama. Coe was in attendance, along with BAA president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
The BAA has assigned council member Ruqaya Al Ghasra as a member of the taskforce in recognition of her outstanding and notable role in local, Arab, regional, and continental areas.
Al Ghasra thanked the BAA board for nominating her for the taskforce and said that it was a real glory to be the first Bahraini woman to hold such international position. She also expressed her gratitude to Shaikh Khalid and the BAA board for their trust, which will encourage her to represent Bahrain in an honourable manner.
Al Ghasra said that Bahraini women have achieved many successes in athletics and are now amongst the top performers in Olympics as well as other international, continental and regional championships.