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OLYMPICS – BAHRAIN’S roster of participants that will be going for gold at the highly anticipated Paris Olympics 2024 is set to be confirmed this week.
The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad is less than a month away, taking place between July 26 and August 11 in France, with around 10,500 athletes from all over the world vying for glory in 32 sports.
The kingdom’s representatives are already set in four sports, namely judo, wrestling, swimming, and weightlifting – and they include former world and continental champions.
Meanwhile, the line-up of Bahraini stars in athletics will be finalised by tomorrow, and the senior men’s national basketball team will – in the early hours of Wednesday and Thursday morning, Bahrain time – be competing in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Puerto Rico for the historic chance to be one of 12 nations in men’s basketball at the French capital.
From the four confirmed sports, Bahrain will be sending athletes for the first time in both judo and weightlifting.
Set to fly the kingdom’s flag in judo is Askerbii Gerbekov, who will be competing in the men’s 81kg category.
The 28-year-old judoka will be making his debut on martial arts’ biggest stage, but he is no stranger to top-class competition. He has won multiple medals in International Judo Federation grand slams and grands prix, which are amongst the highest-level global events in the sport.
In wrestling, Bahrain will be represented by Akhmed Tazhudinov – the current world champion in the 97kg weight division of men’s freestyle wrestling.
The 21-year-old is also a gold-medallist in the Asian championship and Asian Games, which includes his title triumph in this year’s continental showcase held in April in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Two Bahraini swimmers will be looking to ‘make a splash’ in Paris. Amani Al Obaidli and Saud Ghali have been selected by the Bahrain Swimming Association as universality entries. These are places given to nations without any qualified athletes, wherein one man and one woman are permitted to take part in a single event each.
Eighteen-year-old Al Obaidli will be competing in the women’s 100m backstroke, while Ghali, who will be turning 20 in August, will swim in the 200m breaststroke. Both are experienced swimmers who have competed in past world championships, and each has won multiple medals at the Arab and Gulf levels.
In weightlifting, Bahrain’s two entrants are amongst the biggest names in the sport. Former world and Asian champion Lesman Paredes and ex-Asian championship and Asian Games gold-medallist Gor Minasyan will be looking to add to their legacies by claiming Olympic gold for the kingdom.
Paredes, 28, is set to compete in the men’s 102kg category while Minasyan, 29, will be amongst the men’s over-109kg weightlifters.
Bahrain’s elite athletes in track and field will be looking to secure a medal for the kingdom for the fourth straight Olympic Games. The squad will be led by the likes of reigning world champion Winfred Yavi and former world champion Salwa Eid Naser. The line-up is set to be concrete tomorrow as the qualification period for athletes in individual events closes today.
Yavi and Naser have already secured their places at the French capital, and are expected to go for gold in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase and women’s 400m, respectively.
Bahrain’s elite runners have won medals in the last three Olympics. Now-retired Maryam Yusuf Jamal captured the kingdom’s first-ever Olympic medal – and first-ever Olympic gold – in the women’s 1,500m at the 2012 London Olympics. It was also the maiden Olympic medal claimed by a woman athlete from the Gulf states.
In 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Ruth Jebet won a women’s steeplechase gold and Eunice Kirwa a women’s marathon silver; and then in 2021 in Tokyo, Kalkidan Gezahegne captured silver in the women’s 10,000m.
Finally, Bahrain’s senior men’s basketball national team will be looking to defy the odds and secure an historic Olympic berth. But they must go through some of the game’s juggernauts this week when they face Italy and Puerto Rico in Group B of their OQT in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Bahrainis first take on the Italians on Wednesday at 12.30am, and then play the host Puerto Ricans on Thursday at 3.30am, both Bahrain time.
The nationals are making their debut in an OQT. Group A features Mexico, Ivory Coast, and Lithuania. The Bahrainis need to finish amongst the top two nations in their group to advance to their OQT’s semi-finals on July 6, while the final will be held on July 7.
There are 24 teams taking part in four OQTs being held around the world. Only the winners of each will book their berth in Paris, where they will join host nation France, Germany, Serbia, Japan, Australia, Canada, the US, and South Sudan.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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