Bahrain enjoyed an incredible 18-medal haul last night – headlined by eight gold – won across four sports at the fourth GCC Games in Doha, Qatar.
The kingdom’s leading sportsmen and women climbed the podium yesterday in athletics, shooting, swimming, and fencing to bring their overall medal harvest to 41 so far after four days of competition.
Their total winnings include 16 gold, 17 silver, and eight bronze medals.
Yesterday’s gold medals were captured by Kemi Adekoya, Abdikani Hamid, and the women’s 4x100 metres relay quartet of Layla Kamal, Raihanah Garoubah, Zainab Mohammed, and Edidiong Odiong in athletics; Noof Aldoseri and then joining her teammates Marwa Alamairi and Fawzia Mohammed in the women’s 10m air rifle teams’ competition in shooting; and Mikhail Arkhangelskiy and Saud Ghali in swimming, with Arkhangelskiy taking double individual gold.
Also yesterday, the nationals came away with seven silver medals and three bronze medals.
In the athletics events at Qatar Sports Club, Adekoya secured her gold medal in the women’s 400m with a time of 51.78s.
She finished ahead of fellow-Bahraini Aisha Abdullah, who clocked a mark of 53.69s as the silver-medallist.
Hanaa Al Qassimi of Oman joined them on the podium as the bronze-medallist in one minute 00.17 seconds.
Hamid took his gold medal in the men’s 10,000m, where he led a Bahraini one-two with teammate Dawit Fikadu.
The pair ran shoulder-to-shoulder for virtually the entire distance, with Hamid charging ahead in the closing metres to win in 30:37.70.
Fikadu claimed silver in 30:41.11, while Obaid Alnuaimi of the UAE took bronze in 32:29.43.
In the women’s 4x100m relay, the Bahraini women finished in a winning time of 45.09s.
Kamal kicked off their run, followed by Garoubah and Mohammed, with Odiong taking on the responsibilities in the anchor leg.
Oman captured the silver medals in a distant 49.92s, while the UAE won bronze in 54.39s.
Elsewhere yesterday on the track, Salem Bakheet added a bronze medal in the men’s 110m hurdles.
He finished his race in 15.02 seconds, while Kuwait’s Yaqoub Alyouha won gold in 13.67s and Qatar’s Oumar Abakar took silver in 14.08s.
At Lusail Shooting Range yesterday, Aldoseri starred for Bahrain as she claimed her gold medals in both the women’s 10m air rifle individual and teams’ events.
Aldoseri secured her individual title after posting a score of 247.4. She narrowly outshone Fatima Alsuwaidi of the UAE, who claimed silver with a 247.1 score, while Retaj Alyafei of Qatar joined them on the podium with a 225.4 score in third.
Aldoseri then joined teammates Alamairi and Mohammed to capture the crown in the teams’ competition, which they ended with a score of 1,863.1.
They beat silver-medallists Qatar, who had a 1,855.4 score, while Oman clinched bronze at 1,834.9.
In the men’s 10m air rifle teams’ event, Bahrain’s trio of Mahmood Haji, Khalid Aldoseri, and Husain Ali came away with the silver medals with a 1,851.8 score.
Saudi were the champions on a 1,855.1 score, while Qatar took third on 1,851.3.
Bahrain’s Maryam Alasam also won a silver medal in the women’s skeet individual final.
She finished her five rounds with a score of 112, while Reem Alsharshani from Qatar took gold with a 119 score. Hajar Mohammed, also from Qatar, won bronze on a 109 score.
Amongst Bahrain’s other shooters in the competition, Fatema Almahasni ranked eighth with a 104 score, Maryam Hassani came ninth on 102, and Latifa Alnajem finished 11th, also on a score of 102.
Those results helped Bahrain’s women come away with the skeet teams’ silver medal.
They had a total score of 316, with Qatar taking gold on 334 and Kuwait bronze at 315.
In swimming, Arkhangelskiy wrapped up Bahrain’s fantastic campaign at Hamad Aquatics Centre yesterday with his sensational double gold.
He captured the men’s 50m backstroke title in 25.47s, beating Qatar’s Tameem Elhamayda, who claimed silver in 26.19s. Ali Alessa of Saudi finished as the bronze-medallist in 26.56s.
Arkhangelskiy then completed his title brace by winning the men’s 100m butterfly in 53.29s.
Ali Tamer Hassan and Mohamed Aziz Ismail were second and third, respectively, for Qatar.
Hassan finished in 53.77s while Ismail came home in 55.15s.
Ghali triumphed in the men’s 200m breaststroke with a mark of 2:20.61.
Qataris Mohamed Mahmoud and Hamza Shalan joined him on the podium, with Mahmoud finishing in 2:20.63 and Shalan in 2:21.24.
Bahrain’s Robert Bonsall came away with a silver medal in the men’s 1,500m freestyle, which he finished in 15:45.05.
Qatar’s Saadeddin Saadeddin bagged gold in 15:19.77 while his countryman Emile Fouzai won bronze in 15:50.00.
In fencing yesterday at Doha’s Aspire Dome, the Bahraini team of Ali Alomairi, Abdulkarim Saad, Hamad Al Atawi won silver in the men’s teams’ foil event.
In billiards, brothers Hussain Maroom and Haider Maroom shared the podium step for third place in the men’s nine-ball tournament at Doha’s Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation Hall last night.
Hussain had to settle for his bronze medal after losing to Mahmoud Charif of the UAE in their semi-final affair, while Haider was narrowly beaten 6-8 by Qatar’s Bashar Husain.
Charif went on to capture gold after overcoming Husain 8-6 in the final.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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