BAHRAIN’S spectacular medal harvest in the fourth GCC Games continued last night, with the kingdom’s athletes winning another 10 medals – headlined by five gold – across two sports in Doha, Qatar.
Securing the national delegation’s gold medals yesterday – all of which came in athletics – were Raihanah Garoubah in the women’s 200 metres, Noora Jasim in the women’s shot put, Nelly Korir in the women’s 1,500m, Abdikani Hamid in the men’s 5,000m, and the women’s 4x400m relay team of Zenab Mahamat, Aisha Abdullah, Sufian Abdulghani, and Kemi Adekoya.
The Bahrainis also came away with three silver medals and two bronze medals in athletics and table tennis.
The silver medals were won by Aisha Abdullah in the women’s 200m, Tigest Mekonen in the women’s 1,500m, and Dawit Fikadu in the men’s 5,000m; while Ali Haji bagged a bronze medal in the men’s 200m and paddler Ryan Emad won bronze in the women’s singles tournament.
Following yesterday’s results, Bahrain’s medal tally after six days of competition rose to 55 medals in all sports – including 23 gold, 20 silver, and 12 bronze medals.
The nationals remained third on the medal table behind leaders Qatar and second-placers Saudi Arabia, and are ahead of Oman, Kuwait, and the UAE.
Last night’s programme on the track and in the field at Qatar Sports Club marked the GCC Games’ final day of action in the sport of athletics.
Garoubah won her women’s 200m gold in a time of 23.23 seconds, leading Abdullah to the finish for a sensational Bahraini one-two. Abdullah clocked a mark of 23.40s as the silver-medallist, while Dana Salem of Qatar won bronze in 24.44s.
In the women’s shot put, Jasim triumphed with a best throw of 15.29m. It was one of only two successful attempts from her six tries, with her other mark at 14.31m. Fatima Alhosani of the UAE came second with a top effort of 13.13m, while Shaikha Alsaqhan of Kuwait joined them on the podium in third at 12.02m.
Korir captured her women’s 1,500m title with a fine performance to spearhead another one-two for the kingdom’s track stars. Korir ran solo to the finish and triumphed in four minutes 22.56 seconds. Mekonen clinched her silver medal in 4:37.37, while Amal Alroumi of Kuwait bagged bronze in 5:09.74.
Hamid secured his men’s 5,000m gold medal with a strong run alongside countryman and silver-medallist Fikadu. They competed side-by-side for much of the distance until Hamid took charge in the closing stages, en route to securing first place in 14:54.95. Fikadu took silver in 15:03.19, while Obaid Alnuaimi of the UAE won bronze in 16:06.57.
Hamid led the same trio on the podium as in the men’s 10,000m held last week.
Bahrain’s quartet of Mahamat, Abdullah, Abdulghani, and Adekoya were then dominant in the women’s 4x400m relay, which they won in 3:34.29. They finished well ahead of silver medal winners Qatar, who crossed the line in 3:56.95.
Haji added a men’s 200m bronze medal after being narrowly beaten to the finish. Haji posted a mark of 20.80s – going just over three-tenths of a second from gold-medallist Ali Al Balushi of Oman, who won in 20.48s. Abdulaziz Atafai of Saudi Arabia claimed silver in 20.50s.
In attendance during yesterday’s athletics podium ceremonies was Bahrain’s chef de mission in Doha and Bahrain Olympic Committee Arab and international relations head Maryam Mardana.
In table tennis yesterday at Doha’s Aspire Dome, Emad won her women’s singles bronze medal after defeating fellow-Bahraini Dana Alkhayyat 3-2 in their match for third place. Emad joined the Qatari pair of Aia Mohamed and Maryam Ali on the podium. Mohamed led their one-two after beating Ali 3-1 in their final.
Elsewhere, Bahrain had tough results in padel and snooker.
In padel, also held at Aspire, Bahrain’s teams lost their respective matches, with the women bowing to their counterparts from Saudi 0-3 and the men suffering a 1-2 defeat against Kuwait.
In the snooker events, played at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation Hall, cueists Hesham Alsaqer and Khalil Busaif had setbacks in both their matches and were eliminated from further contention in the men’s 15-red singles competition.
Alsaqer lost to Ziyad Alqabbani of Saudi 1-3 and then to Qatar’s Ahmed Saif 0-3, while Busaif bowed to Khalid Al Kamali of the UAE 0-3 and then to Ahmad Abul 2-3.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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