BAHRAIN made a golden start to their campaign in this year’s West Asian Athletics Championship last night in Amman, Jordan, winning four medals including their first two gold, according to the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA).
Benson Seurei and Edao Bontu were both victors in their respective events and they came away with their gold medals, while Dawit Fikadu and Kalkidan Gezahegne each clinched a silver medal.
Seurei captured his West Asian title in the men’s 10,000 metres final, where he was followed by countryman Fikadu as the runner-up.
Bontu and Gezahegne did the same competing side by side in the women’s 5,000m, with Bontu taking first place and Gezahegne completing an impressive Bahraini one-two.
For 33-year-old Seurei, he clinched his first West Asian gold medal and it added to his silver medal in the 1,500m from the Asian Indoor Championships in 2016. Bontu also captured her maiden West Asian crown, which goes with the 19-year-old’s bronze medal from the IAAF World U20 Championships, also in 2016.
Amongst the other Bahrainis in action on day one, Khalifa Matar finished fifth overall in the men’s high jump final, and sprinters Andrew Fisher and Saeed Al Amiri advanced past the first round heats of the men’s 100m.
Also as part of yesterday’s events, the opening ceremony was held with all the participating teams present.
Bahrain will be hoping to add to their foul-medal haul from the opening day of action tonight.
The Bahrainis are one of 12 national teams competing in the championships, which continues until Wednesday. The others are the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Oman and hosts Jordan.
There are a total of 26 events for both men and women at the championships, including the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m, 400m hurdles, triple jump, long jump, high jump (men only), discus throw (women only), 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay.
Aside from those in action on the first day yesterday, bahrain’s other elite athletes expected to excel in Amman include Salwa Eid Naser, Abraham Kipchirchir Rotich, Sadik Mikhou, Mohammed Ayoub Tiouali, Albert Rop, Shitaye Eshete, Dalila Abdulkadir, Desi Jisa Mokonin and Aminat Yusuf Jamal, to name a few.
Bahrain’s elite athletes are using these West Asian championships not only to achieve glory for Bahrain, but also to help prepare themselves for the upcoming 18th Asian Games.
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