ASIAN YOUTH GAMES – BAHRAIN bagged a silver and a bronze medal yesterday in weightlifting and jiu-jitsu, respectively, on the penultimate day of competition in the third Asian Youth Games being hosted by the kingdom.
Adrian Granja captured a silver medal for snatch in the boys’ 79kg division in weightlifting, while Pedro Bisi de Jesus was the bronze-medallist in the boys’ under-85kg category in jiu-jitsu.
Supreme Council for Youth and Sports first deputy chairman, General Sports Authority chairman, and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa was on hand to watch both competitions at Exhibition World Bahrain (EWB). He was joined by a number of top officials.
The two medals brought Bahrain’s tally to nine overall so far in this year’s Asian Youth Games, including three gold, four silver, and two bronze.
The gold medals were all won in mixed martial arts (MMA), while silver medals were also claimed in MMA, 3x3 basketball and pencak silat. The other bronze medal was clinched in Muay.
In yesterday’s boys’ 79kg competition in weightlifting, Granja got his bid off to a strong start with his medal-clinching performance in the snatch portion.
He had lifts of 133kg and 137kg in his first two attempts, and in his third completed a 142kg lift, which put him right behind snatch gold-medallist Nurzhan Zhumabay from Kazakhstan, who had a best effort of 146kg. Didarbek Jumabayev from Turkmenistan came away with the snatch bronze medal at 138kg.
In clean and jerk, Granja had successful lifts of 162kg and 167kg in attempts one and two. He then went for 172kg in his final lift, which would have potentially put him in the medals, but he just came up short.
His best of 167kg placed him fifth, while Jumabayev won clean and jerk gold with a 177kg effort. Zhumabay claimed silver 1kg behind, while Ao Xiao from China took bronze at 172kg.
Following both portions, Granja ranked third amongst all competitors on totals at 309kg. Zhumabay was first with an Asian youth record of 322kg, followed by Jumabayev at 315kg.
On hand to present the division’s medals in snatch and clean and jerk were BOC vice-president and Olympic Council of Asia vice-president for the third Asian Youth Games Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and Bahrain Weightlifting Federation president Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq.
Bahrain have one more lifter in action today at EWB. Jhon Lopez will be going for gold in the boys’ 94kg competition, where he is one of seven participants.
Meanwhile, in jiu-jitsu yesterday, Bahrain’s de Jesus put in a stellar performance en route to claiming his bronze medal.
He won by points against Saoud Al Kathiri of Qatar in the first of two contests for third place.
Earlier in the day yesterday, de Jesus began his medal bid with a submission victory against Baigazy Bagyshbekov from Kyrgyzstan in the round of 16. But he then lost to Keonho Park from South Korea by submission in the quarter-finals, which put him in the repechage round, where he won against Abdulaziz Alburaiki from Kuwait, who did not show. That set up his match-up with Al Kathiri, which he took 8-0.
De Jesus shared his bronze medal with Adam Fernani from Saudi Arabia, who defeated Zeus Babanto from the Philippines by submission in yesterday’s other boys’ classification match for a place on the podium. Park went on to strike gold after submitting Muslim Arsamakov from Kazakhstan in their final.
“I am so happy with my overall performance and for bringing a medal to Bahrain in such an amazing event, especially because all my teammates, family, and friends came to watch and support me,” de Jesus told the GDN after receiving his bronze medal.
“It was a great experience to fight very tough matches at the highest level in which I learned a lot from. Now, I’ll go back to the gym and work hard to fix my mistakes to bring the gold next time.
“I would also like to thank my sponsors AJSCO and AAAT.”
Bahrain Combat Sports Council member and Bahrain Jiu-Jitsu Federation president Redha Monfaredi awarded the top three their medals.
Amongst Bahrain’s other participants yesterday in jiu-jitsu, Yousuf Mercer made it to the boys’ under-56kg quarter-finals, where he lost to Aldiyar Ualikhan from Kazakhstan by points 0-9. He then had a shot at battling for a bronze medal but lost his repechage contest on points 0-5 to Mukhammad-mamay Assetuly from Kazakhstan.
Mercer had earlier in the day defeated Ittichai Pakdeewong from Thailand by submission in the round of 32, and then won by advantages against Abdulrahman Alshareef from Kuwait in the last 16.
In the same weight class, Bahrain’s Hamad Mohseni lost to Mohammad Razaq Kohi from Afghanistan in the round of 32.
Elsewhere yesterday at EWB in freestyle wrestling, Bahrain’s trio of Naser Zaman, Hasan Albalooshi, and Aseel Almutawa all bowed out of further medal contention from their respective competitions.
Zaman lost to Yeraly Askerbek from Kazakhstan 0-4 in the boys’ 65kg qualifications, Albalooshi bowed to Warat Fangsai from Thailand 0-5 in the boys’ 48kg qualifications, and Almutawa succumbed to Yasin Zarezadeh from Iran 0-4 in the boys’ 55kg round of 16.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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