CYCLING – BAHRAIN’S delegation continues to take shape for the fast-approaching 20th Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, starting in less than two weeks’ time.
The Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) announced yesterday that the kingdom’s top international cyclists Ahmed Madan and Ahmed Naser will be competing in the men’s road cycling events in this year’s Asiad.
The two riders are the latest Bahraini medal hopefuls confirmed by the BOC for the multi-sport Olympic Council for Asia (OCA) spectacle.
They join their countrymen who are already pencilled in for shooting, wrestling, taekwondo, jiu-jitsu, badminton, esports, and athletics.
The 20th Asian Games are scheduled for September 19 to October 4, but a number of sports will be starting sooner, as early as September 10.
More than 11,000 athletes from the OCA’s 45 member nations, both men and women, will be vying for the podium in 469 medal events across 43 sports.
Madan and Naser are set to battle it out with the continent’s best at Shinshiro Cycling Road Course in Aichi Prefecture.
The pair will be flying the kingdom’s flag in the men’s road race, while Naser will also be going for gold in the men’s individual time trial.
The road cycling events in this year’s Asiad are scheduled to be held over three days on September 20, 22, and 23.
Along with Madan and Naser in men’s cycling, the other delegation members announced by BOC in the other sports are Maryam Hassani, Maryam Alasam, Maryam Sulaiti, Marwa Bu Araki, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Tammar Alwatt, and Saeed Hassan in shooting; reigning Olympic champion and ex-world champion Akhmed Tazhudinov and Alibeg Alibego in men’s wrestling; Fatema Sadeq Kalawadh and Ola Abdulaziz Aldoseri in women’s taekwondo; Khalid Faraj and Abdulla Alshaikh in men’s jiu-jitsu; Adnan Ebrahim in men’s badminton; and Mohamed Hujairi, Fadhel Abdulla Taher, Hassan Khalil Ebrahim, Hussam Rashed Al Ansari, Mohammed Abdulnabi Darbas, and Yousef Abdulaziz Bahram in esports.
Reigning Olympic champion and former world champion Winfred Yavi, meanwhile, will spearhead a full-strength, 34-member athletics team, who are expected to be amongst the kingdom’s best bets for the podium.
This year’s Asiad will mark the 14th time Bahrain are participating in the quadrennial OCA spectacle. The kingdom first competed in 1974 and have been a part of the Asian Games in each edition since.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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