ISLAMIC SOLIDARITY GAMES – Bahrain are set to compete with a full-strength athletics national team, spearheaded by Olympic and world champions, in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Paris 2024 Olympics champion and former world champion Winfred Yavi, along with ex-world champions Salwa Eid Naser and Kemi Adekoya plus former Olympic champion Ruth Jebet, are all set to hit the track in the Saudi capital as they aim for gold and glory for the kingdom in their respective events.
They spearhead a squad of 20 elite track and field stars who have also excelled for Bahrain at the international, continental, and regional levels.
The athletics programme in this year’s Islamic Solidarity Games is scheduled to begin tomorrow. They will be held over four days until Thursday later this week at Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Sports City Stadium.
Bahrain’s athletes are amongst the national delegation’s best hopes of adding even more medals to their already impressive tally in the multi-sport event.
The kingdom won 19 of their 23 medals in athletics from the previous edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2021, held in Konya, Türkiye.
A number of the gold-medallists from that year are returning to compete in Riyadh. They include Yavi, who claimed a golden double in Konya by taking the women’s 3,000m steeplechase and the women’s 1,500m; Edidiong Odiong, who won in the women’s 100m; Birhanu Balew, who took gold in the men’s 5,000m; and relay runners Zenab Mahamat and Musa Isah.
The rest of Bahrain’s national athletics team – some of whom came away with silver and bronze medals in the last Islamic Solidarity Games – features Hajar Alkhaldi, Layla Kamal, Nelly Jepkosgei, Noora Jassim, Raihanah Garoubah, and Violah Jepchumba Motosio amongst the women; and Abbas Ali, Abdelrahman Mahmoud, Ahmed Mohamoud, Abdikani Hamid, Alaa Sami, and Zouhair Aouad, amongst the men.
The first group of Bahrain’s athletics national team have already arrived in Riyadh ahead of their participation in the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games.
They were accompanied by their coaches along with administrative and support staff.
Bahrain currently have 12 medals in Riyadh, including five gold, three silver, and four bronze – won in weightlifting, judo, esports, volleyball, and table tennis.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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