Dubai: The UAE further swelled to their tally to 51 medals at the end of the sixth day at the Second GCC Games being held in Dammam.
The UAE bagged five more gold medals on the second day of the swimming competition and clinched another three gold as the karate got under way.
The UAE swimmers have been in fine form since the start of the competition on Tuesday. They followed up with the opening day’s four gold, three silver and a bronze with the addition of another five gold and two bronze medals.
The karate team also recorded a strong presence winning a total of six medals on the first day, including three gold and a couple of silver and bronze medals.
The bowling and table tennis teams, however, did not fare up to expectations. Naif Oqab missed out on a bronze medal in the singles by a mere five points, while Abdullah Beloushi went down 0-3 against Mohammad Al Khedirah of Saudi Arabia.
After six days of competition, the UAE continues to be in second overall with a total of 51 medals, including 21 gold, 15 silver and 15 bronze. Hosts Saudi Arabia are at the summit 50 medals, of which 30 are gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze, while Oman climbed one more spot into third with 21 medals, including three gold, ten silver and eight bronze.
Bahrain is in fourth place with 19 medals, including two gold, 13 silver and four bronze medals, while Qatar was in fifth with 30 medals with one gold, eight silver and 21 bronze.
In the karate, Marwan Al Mazmi took the individual kata gold pushing Abdullah Al Faifi of Saudi Arabia into silver and Adham Hashim of Bahrain took the bronze.
Mohammad Al Zarouni clinched a gold medal in the under-75kg weight category defeating defending champion and hot favourite Saudi Arabia’s Badr Olayan with a 5-3 win in the final. The bronze went to Oman’s Ahmad Moussa.
The lone silver in the karate came from Osama Khalid in the U-55kg division, while Ahmad Salim won a bronze in the U-67kg and Mohammad Sulaiman also took bronze in the U-84kg.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Al Kamali, General Secretary, UAE National Olympic Committee (UAE NOC) has congratulated the swimmers and the karate squad for their commendable performances at the GCC Games.
“These performances of the swimmers and karate players are way above our expectations and it is great to witness such strong performances that put us among the best in the region. Now it is time for these athletes and produce even better performances with the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in mind,” Al Kamali said.