ISLAMIC SOLIDARITY GAMES – BAHRAIN bagged a sensational four medals last night in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, headlined by three gold captured by Gor Minasyan in men’s weightlifting.
Minasan enjoyed a clean sweep of the gold medals in the men’s over-110kg category, winning for snatch, clean and jerk, and total. The Paris 2024 Olympics bronze-medallist put in a sensational performance in his event, beating out some tough competition from his closest challengers.
Also stepping onto the podium yesterday at the Saudi capital was Bahrain’s Sayed Hashem Ahmed, who came away with a silver medal in the Tekken 8 competition in esports.
Their winnings brought the kingdom’s overall medal tally to 10 so far in the 57-nation, multi-sport event, including five gold – all won in weightlifting – two silver, and two bronze.
Minasyan’s three gold medals added to the two gold won by fellow-Bahraini lifter Ingrid Vanesa Segura Grueso, who competed in the women’s under-69kg category. She also won a silver medal, while the Bahraini delegation’s three other medals were claimed in judo to go with their esports silver.
Minasyan took first place in the opening snatch portion of his contest with a best lift of 213kg, which came on his third and final attempt. He began his medal bid with a conservative 205kg lift, which he followed up with a 211kg effort.
Minasyan pipped Ali Rubaiawi from Iraq to snatch gold by a single kilo, while Reza Hassanpour Feremi from Iran took bronze at 182kg.
In the ensuing clean and jerk, Minasyan had an unsuccessful first lift at 241kg. But he roared back with his second attempt at 242kg, and then secured gold with a 247kg lift on his last effort.
Minasyan once again narrowly beat Rubaiawi to the top of the rankings, as his Iraqi rival took silver one kg behind. Feremi was again the bronze-medallist with his clean and jerk best of 243kg.
Minasyan completed his sweep with a 460kg total – two kilos better than Rubaiawi and 35kg more than Feremi.
Meanwhile, in esports, Bahrain’s Ahmed had to settle for the overall runner-up spot after losing the Tekken 8 grand final to Raef Alturkistani from Saudi Arabia 2-3.
Ahmed had earlier beaten Sultan Taheri from the UAE in the preceding upper final, which earned him his place in the gold medal contest.
Also yesterday at the Islamic Solidarity Games, Bahrain’s senior men’s volleyball national team closed out their campaign in the men’s volleyball tournament’s preliminary round with a hard-earned 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 24-26, 25-22) triumph against Gulf rivals Qatar.
The Bahrainis ended this stage with a 3-2 win-loss record for third place on the standings. They will now lock horns with Qatar once again for the bronze medals. That game is scheduled for today at 12noon, Bahrain time.
Elsewhere yesterday in Riyadh, Bahrain’s other athletes had varying results in their respective sports.
In table tennis, Rashed Rashed and Kenda Mohamed won their mixed doubles quarter-final clash against Saudi Arabia’s Ali Alkhadrawi and Alqahtani Nihal 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-7). They will next face the Bangladeshi pair of Md Javed Ahmed and Khoy Khoy Sai Marma in the last four, set to be held today on the concluding day of the table tennis events.
The winners will move on to play either Sibel Altinkaya and Ibrahim Gunduz of Türkiye or Marziyya Nurmatova and Adil Ahmadzada of Azerbaijan in the mixed doubles gold medal contest.
In the men’s doubles, Bahrain’s duo of Rashed and Mohamed Saleh lost to Iran’s Benyamin Faraji and Hodaei Seyedamirhossein 0-3 (7-11, 10-12, 8-11) in their round of 16.
On the distaff, Mohamed and Dana Al Khayyat won the opening game against Mariana Sahakian and Bissan Chiri from Lebanon but ultimately lost the match 1-3 (11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 8-11) in the women’s doubles last 16.
In showjumping yesterday, Bahrainis Hussain Mohamed Dadalla and Mayoof Abdulaziz Alromaihi competed in the first qualifying competition in showjumping. Their two-phase event featured fences 1.40-metres in height.
Dadalla, riding his horse Verdi de Hus Z, ranked fourth for the day with times of 36.61 seconds and 36.19s with zero penalties. Alromaihi, on the other hand, was classified 23rd on Kornets Darco BH, clocking times of 39.75s and 42.29s with four total penalties.
Their participation continues today with the second qualifying competition, which is an against-the-clock event.
In karate, Asrar Abdulla lost to Jeanne D’arc Abegue Ella from Gabon 2-5 in yesterday’s women’s under-61kg round of 16.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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