ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN enjoyed a sensational eight-medal haul, headlined by five gold medals, as they signed off from the 21st Arab Youth Athletics Championships, held in Rades, Tunisia.
Sprinter Raihanah Garoubah was amongst the stars of the kingdom’s national team in the under-20 meeting, coming away with two of their titles. The three other gold medals were bagged by Aisha Abdullah, Ahmed Sabri, and the women’s 4x400 metres relay team.
The Bahrainis’ five gold – to go along with three silver medals – earned them third place overall on the final medal table – finishing as the highest-ranked GCC nation.
Morocco took first place with 36 medals, including nine gold, 16 silver, and 11 bronze, while Egypt were the overall runners-up with 18 medals, comprising nine gold, six silver, and three bronze.
As reported earlier in the GDN, Garoubah had won her first gold of the competition in the women’s 100m final, where she clocked a winning mark of 11.55 seconds. She then added to that triumph by also taking first place in the women’s 200m medal round on the last day of action in the meet, where she set a new personal best of 23.36s.
Garoubah completed the race marginally ahead of fellow-Bahraini Sufian Abdulghani, who secured the silver medal in a season’s best 23.86s. It was her second runner-up finish in the championships. Ezza Nasser of the UAE came third in 24.49s.
Abdullah had earlier won her gold medal in the women’s 400m final, where she led a sensational one-two with Abdulghani in the first of her silver medal finishes. Abdullah secured first place in that run with a new personal best time of 53.69s.
Sabri then climbed to the top step of the podium, also on the concluding day of competition, in the men’s high jump final. He too set a new personal best of 2.07 metres en route to capturing the gold medal. Med Amine Abbassi of Tunisia won silver in 2.04m, while Mourad Brakni of Algeria came away with bronze at 2.00m.
Bahrain’s fifth gold medal was claimed in the women’s 4x400m final, where the nationals stormed to the finish of the four-lap race with a dominant personal best time of three minutes 41.88 seconds. Morocco’s relay team took silver in 3:44.17, while Tunisia’s squad captured bronze in 3:51.50.
Bahrain also came away with a third silver medal from the championships to complete their winnings of eight medals. It was claimed by Alaa Samuel Ahmed in the men’s 200m final, which he finished with a new personal best of 21.16s. Abdulquddus Ali of the UAE was the winner in 20.74s, while Faisal Hassan Al Asmari of Saudi Arabia clinched bronze in 21.22s.
Bahrain’s delegation in Rades was headed by former national team sprinter Faten Abdulnabi, who praised the kingdom’s up-and-coming young athletes for their success.
The meeting featured more than 200 athletes, both men and women, who represented 15 Arab nations.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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