BEACH GAMES – BAHRAIN bagged a sensational six medals yesterday, including three gold, in the third GCC Beach Games in Muscat, Oman.
Marta Yota and Abdulghani Mohammed both clinched gold medals in beach athletics for the kingdom’s delegation, while the tent pegging squad bagged a gold medal in their teams’ event.
Also yesterday, Bontu Rebitu added a silver and John Kibet a bronze in beach athletics, while the Bahraini tandem of Ahmed Abdulnabi and Ahmed Suhail secured a bronze medal in marathon swimming.
Yesterday’s six-medal haul brought Bahrain’s total after five days of competition to eight, including four gold, one silver, and three bronze medals.
The beach athletics national team highlighted the kingdom’s successes yesterday in the Omani capital.
Yota and Mohammed secured their gold in their respective mile races.
Yota finished her run in five minutes 10.68 seconds to secure first place in the women’s mile. She was classified narrowly ahead of Rebitu, who clocked a mark of 5:11.80. Ruqaya Mohammed of the UAE was the event’s bronze-medallist.
Mohammed, on the other hand, took the men’s mile with a time of 4:30.43. Mohammed Al Sulaimani of Oman came away with the silver medal ahead of Bahrain’s Kibet, who ranked third in 4:36.53.
Meanwhile, the kingdom’s tent pegging team secured their gold ahead of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, who clinched the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
The marathon swimming bronze medals were won by Abdulnabi and Suhail in their 10-kilometre race. Oman and Saudi were ranked ahead of them on the podium.
Also yesterday, Bahrain’s beach handball team returned to winning ways after defeating their counterparts from Saudi Arabia 2-0.
The result followed two successive losses to Oman and the UAE, which came after they beat the Saudis in a shootout in their opening fixture. Their win yesterday was their second in as many meetings.
The nationals next take on the host Omanis this evening at 5pm, and then face off with the Emiratis in their concluding assignment tomorrow, scheduled for an 8am throw-off.
Also yesterday, the dream run of Bahrain Two duo Ali Marhoon and Hassan Nasser in the beach volleyball competition came to an end in the semi-final stage. They lost to Oman Two in straight sets, while Qatar One won the other contest in the last four against Oman One, also in a two-setter.
Oman Two and Qatar One will battle for the gold, while Marhoon and Nasser play Oman One for the bronze medals.
In yesterday’s penultimate day of the sailing competition’s individual fleets, three Bahrainis remained within the top three for a chance at a medal.
Bahraini Ahmed Abdulla Sadiq ranked third in the ILCA 7 class heading into today’s last day of regattas. Hussain Saeed Al Jabri of Oman was first and Adel Khalid Al Bastaki of the UAE was second.
In the ILCA 6 category, Bahrain’s Dawood Abdulla Sadiq was second behind Othman Abdulkarim Al Hammadi of the UAE in first place. Al Moatasem Hamoud Al Farsi of Oman was third.
In the ILCA 4 division for girls, Bahrain’s Amina Mohammed Sadiq stayed in contention for the gold in second place, right behind fleet leader Marwa Hassan Al Hammadi of the UAE in first. Alyazia Hassan Al Hammadi, also of the UAE, was third.
Elsewhere yesterday, Bahrain’s beach soccer team lost to their UAE opponents 0-3.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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