South Africa dominate Biathle Championships

Dubai: South Africa dominated the 12th UIPM World Biathle Championships finishing well ahead of Britain at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi off Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) late on Saturday.

South Africa had a haul of 27 medals in all, ten more than second-placed Britain while Egypt took everyone by surprise finishing in third with five medals, with France and the Czech Republic taking the next two positions overall with four and three medals respectively.

Dr Klaus Schormann, President, Union Internationale De Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) gave away the prizes along with Dr Ahmad Saad Al Sharif, Secretary-General, Dubai Sports Council (DSC) and Mihail Kouzev, UIPM Representative for the Middle East.

"We expected 23 medals, but we ended up with four more. This is an indication that at least four of our athletes are well up the development path," Anthony Bradford, team manager for South Africa told Gulf News after the presentation.

Indication of hard work

"We have started with a youth development programme and today's performance is an indication of the hard work that is being put in to set a strong base for this sport in our country," Bradford added.

Though pleased with Britain's second spot, team manager Howard Jones admitted that the juniors had delivered for South Africa in Saturday's competition that was held in 21 different age categories.

"These youngsters made the difference for South Africa and they won a lot of the medals earlier during the day in the junior categories. They all have a bright future, but we are not too far away from catching up," Jones said.

Dr Schormann was delighted with the organisation of such a fine world championships "at the most ideal location".

"Some more things can be achieved and we can do this in the future," Dr Schormann complimented.

The UIPM President also announced that the 2011 World Biathle Championships will be held in Monaco. "We need to see our sport grow and this is definitely a new frontier for biathle competition," Dr Schormann promised.

Warren van der Merwe, Managing Director, Super Sport, was pleased with the conduct of the competition.

"Everything went just fine and we could not have achieved all this without the support of our sponsors," van der Merwe said.

This event has the sanction of the Dubai Sports Council and the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), which is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the world governing body for the sport of Modern Pentathlon and Biathle.

Results

Youth E Male: Zander Du Plessis (South Africa) 5:41; Matt Dewar (South Africa) 5:42; Alexander Hind (Great Britain) 5:44. Youth E Female: 1. Lesley Blignaut (South Africa) 5:36); 2. Tasnim Badawi (Egypt) 5:46; 3. Lizaan Lombaard (South Africa) 5:49. Youth D Male: 1. Ahmad Shaheen (Egypt) 4:38; 2. Harrison Yarnold (Great Britain) 4:51; 3. Heinrich Bruhns (South Africa) 4:58. Youth D Female: 1. Elisabeth Hood (Great Britain) 4:51; 2. Haidy Adel (Egypt) 5:01; 3. Bathandwa Dyantyi (South Africa) 5:13. Youth C Male: 1. Cameron Grassi 5:00; 2. Hanre Herbst 5:03; 3. Louwrens Roux 5:05 (all South Africa). Youth C Female: 1. Marlies Ross (South Africa) 5:26; 2. Marna Louwrens (South Africa) 5:30; 3. Sondos Tarek (Egypt) 5:32. Masters A Male: 1. Anthony Cox (South Africa) 8:44; 2. Francisco Javier Carnero Alonso (Spain) 8:49; 3. Adri Vermaas (South Africa) 9:00. Masters B Male: 1. Stefan Snyders 9:29; 2. Peter Venter 9:46; 3. Dolph Nortier 9:49 (all South Africa). Masters C Male: 1. Anton Harrop-Allin 11:17; 2. Basil Kletz 11:22; 3. Bab Garden 11:30 (al South Africa). Masters D Male: 1. Peter Collett (Great Britain) 18:10. Masters A Female: 1. Connie Arcella (Australia) 10:04; 2. Rika Vermaas (South Africa) 10:12; 3. Sorita Viljoen (South Africa) 10:32. Masters B Female: 1. Barbara Holmes (Great Britain) 10:59; 2. Jane Radvan (Great Britain) 11:31; 3. Annelie Viviers (South Africa) 11:42. Masters C Female: 1. Mary Collett (Great Britain) 12:13; 2. Agnes Griessel (South Africa) 13:27. Youth B Male: 1. Christopher Perham (Great Britain) 9:24; 2. Basson Engelbrecht (South Africa) 9:37; 3. Grejong Flayols (France) 9:42. Youth B Female: 1. Eleni Pratsi (Cyprus) 10:41; 2. Ellen McArthur (Great Britain) 10:56; 3. Lauren Botha (South Africa) 11:02. Youth A Male: 1. Josh Radvan (Great Britain) 12:20; 2. Arno Smit (South Africa) 12:21; 3. Gauthies Remani (France) 12:31. Youth A Female: 1. Melissa Courtney (Great Britain) 5:43; 2. Louisa Warwick (Great Britain) 5:53; 3. Eden Smith (South Africa) 6:28. Junior Male: 1. Gregory Megi (France) 12:09; 2. Petr Slajs (Czech Republic) 12:14; 3. Mahmoud Al Naggar (Egypt) 12:21. Junior Female: 1. Petra Kurikova (Czech Republic) 13:32; Paola Bartoli (France) 13:50; 3. Janine Kohlmann (Germany) 13:54. Senior Male: 1. Richard Stannard (Great Britain) 12:02; 2. Lukas Purkar (Czech Republic) 12:53; 3. Nicholas Tipper (Great Britain) 13:08. Senior Female: 1. Rachel Jones 14:03; 2. Natalie Thomas; 3. Kay Shafford 16:41 (all Great Britain).