Dubai: Alia Saeed Mohammad won two gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000-metres at the four-day Arab Athletics Championships in Rades, Tunisia, which ended on Tuesday.
The Ethiopian-born UAE long-distance runner, who won 10,000-metre Asian Games gold in 2014, beat Morocco’s Soukaina Atnen and Fatma Zahraa Kardedi to clock a time of 16:39.41 in the 5,000-metres; she also clocked 38:53.31 ahead of Morocco’s Amina Tahri and Hanen Khalouj to win the 10,000-metres.
Mohammad’s two golds in Tunisia follow a bronze in the 10,000-metres at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan in May, and a silver in the 5,000-metres in the Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar, India, earlier this month.
Saleh Mohammad Hassan, secretary general of the UAE Athletics Federation, said: “We are delighted that Alia won two gold medals in the championship. These victories confirm that the plans and programmes of the federation are moving in the right direction.
“She will now continue her training in Dubai before leaving for Ethiopia, where she will take part in her last preparation camp ahead of the Athletics World Championships [in London from August 4-13]. The camp will continue for 10 days and then she will leave directly for London,” he added.
