Egypt finish on top yet again

Egypt concluded their medal hunt from where they left behind at the past edition when they topped the overall standings at the 10th Pan Arab Games which concluded late last night here.

Egypt had an overall tally of 74 gold, 37 silver and 45 bronze for a total of 156 medals. This is a far cry from the 97 gold they had bagged at the 9th Pan Arab games held in Amman five years back.

Coming in a close second to record their best performance ever at these Games was hosts Algeria with 70 gold, 71 silver and 72 bronze for a total of 203 medals. In distant third was Tunisia with 48 gold, 42 silver and 51 bronze for a total of 141 medals.

The home country added an amazing 10 medals on the final day of the competition late on Thursday night. But keeping pace with them at the top was Egypt with a couple of gold in the judo competition.

With just one gold open for contest through the marathon, it is highly unlikely that Egypt would be displaced as the best sporting nation in the region.

The UAE has plenty to cheer about after landing a fine haul of 30 medals, including eight gold, six silver and 16 bronze for a total of 30 medals. The UAE's performance of a tally of 30 medals has come in for high praise from the chief of the delegation to these Games.

"These medals mean a lot of things for us especially when we compete against our own brethren from the Arab world," noted Dr Omar Abdul Aziz Al Hai, the chief of the UAE delegation here.

"From the start, we were confident of getting a good number of medals at these Games. But what we've realised is the hard work that has been put in by all these athletes to make these results possible for the UAE," Dr Al Hai added. "Thirty medals after 15 days of competition means two medals on an average every day.

That's a good pace to keep especially from a small country like ours," he stated. One of the main derivatives from this success at the Pan Arab Games is the announcement of the arrival of the UAE on the regional stage.

"This was the right platform for us to announce our arrival," Dr Al Hai noted.