Bahraini.TV

Bahrain athletes took another glorious step towards world recognition by claiming the overall title in the 18th Arab Cross Country Championship which concluded last night at the Equestrian and Horseracing Club premises in Sakhir.

Bahrain finished with six gold medals, five silver and four bronze to top the medal tally.

The hosts, who dominated the first day of this two-day prestigious event by taking five medals, signed off in great fashion winning 10 medals yesterday -four gold, three silver and three bronze – to take their tally to 15 medals in all.

Bahrain won two of the three races yesterday with Maryam Jamal racing to victory in the women’s four-km event while Adam Ismail clinched the men’s eight-km event.

Jamal finished in 12.43 minutes and was followed by Tunisia’s Safa’a Al Esawi (12.45).

Bahrain’s Nadia Al Jafini, who snatched Bahrain’s first gold on the first day in the women’s eight-km event, was third in 12.50 minutes.

The Bahraini women’s team also finished first overall in this race on 13 points and were followed by Algeria (33 points) in second place, Tunisia (37) third and Jordan (66) fourth.

Bahrain men followed suit to continue their domination by taking the first three positions in the men’s eight-km event and also finish top in the team category with 10 points, followed by Yemen (32 points) and Oman (44).

Adam Ismail raced to victory with the best time of 23.37 mintues. The 18-year-old rising athlete was followed by his compatriot Tareq Mubarak (23.55.10), who was also a runner-up in the men’s four-km race on Wednesday. Bahrain’s Saleh Marzooq (24.12.30) followed Mubarak in third position.

Both Jamal and Ismail were thrilled with their victories.

“It was a comfortable victory despite the fact that I was coming here after taking a month’s rest following the World Indoor Championship in Moscow where I came third in the women’s 1,500m,” said Jamal who started running at the age of 15.

The 21-year-old talented athlete is now looking forward to the 2006 Doha Asian Games to be held in December. Her coach and husband Tareq Sabt said a full training programme has been finalised till the Doha Games.

“Maryam will take part in four to five Golden League events before the Asian Games in Doha,” said Sabt an amateur athlete himself before a pelvis injury last year during a 20-km event in Lausanne ended his career.

“We will be leaving soon for Switzerland where Maryam will be based for a two-week camp before heading for the US to undergo another training programme for three weeks and also take part in the Nike Championship’s 3,000m event,” said the 28-year-old coach.

After the US event, Maryam will return to Switzerland and continue training until September before coming back to Bahrain where she will stay for few days before leaving for an international camp along with the other Bahraini team delegation.

“I am very happy,” added Ismail. It was his first major victory since taking to running four years ago. His best record before this victory was a second-place in the men’s 5,000m at the Arab Youth Championship in Tunisia.

Ismail said he felt very tired in the second and final lap but was very determined to win the race and give Bahrain another victory.

Confidence

“Winning this race meant a lot to me. It has given me more confidence ahead of the GCC Youth Championship in Saudi Arabia next month and the Asian Youth Championship in China in June,” said an exhausted Ismail.

Ismail said he will have a month-long training camp in Kenya as part of his preparations for both events.

The championship concluded with the men’s 12-km event with athletes from Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Djibouti, Syria, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain were in the fray.

The event was won by Qatar’s Sultan Khamis after a tough competition with Bahrain’s Iyad Juma’a and Khalid Kamal who settled for second and third positions respectively.

Qatar also finished first in the team section and were followed by Bahrain and Jordan.

Yesterday’s races and the closing ceremony were held under the patronage of the General Organisation for Youth and Sports president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa. The event was also attended by Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation (Breef) president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Breef first vice-president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa and other guests.
GDN :: Sami Hulayyel :: 14 Apr ’06