?Bahrain yesterday had a spectacular finish to the athletics events, part of the ongoing 18th Asian Games, being held in Jakarta and Palembang.
Seven medals, including 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze were the outcome of the Bahraini athletes on the fifth and concluding day of athletics championship, staged at Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex Main Stadium, in Jakarta.
The result saw Bahrain move up in the medal table to 10th place with 25 medals in total (12 gold, 6 silver, 7 bronze), on the concluding day of athletics.
Lined up with some of Asia’s best athletes, the Bahraini nationals were again in top form as they extended their medal haul win.
The team of Salwa Naser, Edidiong Odiong, Iman Isa, Hajer Al Khaldi opened Bahrain’s medal haul of the day, taking home the women’s 4x100m relay gold in 42.73 seconds. China (42.84) came in second place and Kazakhstan (43.82) were third.
Kalkidan Befkadu followed suit, racing to women’s 1,500m victory in 4 minutes and 7.88 seconds. She was followed by another Bahraini Tigist Belay (4:09.12), who secured the silver, while India’s Chitra Palakeezh (4:12.56) took the bronze.
Late on, Mohammed Tiouali bagged the men’s 1,500m bronze after coming third in 3:44.72. Jinson Johnson (3:44.72) of India was first, followed by silver medalist Amir Moradi (3:45.62) of Iran.
Bahrain were dominant in the next challenge as Birhanu Balew and Albert Rop sealed a 1-2 finish in the men’s 5,000m final, clocking 13:43.17 and 13:43.76, respectively, while Saudi Arabia’s Tariq Al Amir (13:56.49) rounded of the podium.
There was even more joy for Bahrain as the relay team of Salwa Naser, Aminat Jamal, Iman Isa and Manal ElBahraoui battled to the women’s 4x400m event in 3:30.61 minutes, finishing just behind gold medalists India (3:28.72), and ahead of Vietnam (3:33.23), who received the bronze.
In the men’s 4x40m relay, Bahrain’s Ali Khamis, Abbas Abubakr, Mousa Isa and Abdulrahman Khamis could only come fifth in 3:03.97. Qatar (3:00.56) captured the gold, with India (3:01.85) winning the silver and Japan (3:01.94) the bronze.
Noora Jassim put in a brave performance in women’s discus throw, but was sixth with her best attempt of 51.19 metres. Yang Chen (65.12) of China took the gold medal, followed by compatriot Bin Feng (64.25) and Seema Punia (62.26) who settled for the silver and bronze, respectively.
