December 24, 1990: Algerian star Salmi wins Rashid Marathon

Algerian star Salmi wins Rashid Marathon

1990 — Algerian athlete Salmi Mohammad ran away with the first prize cash award of Dh8,000 and the cup when he won the men’s Rashid Athletic Marathon held in Dubai. Salmi outpaced the Bahraini duo of Sa’ad Mubarak and Abdullah Dosari in the 6km race, which started from Al Maktoum Bridge Park and finished at the Iranian Sports Club. Mubarak and Dossari pocketed Dh4,000 and Dh2,000 respectively. Dubai schoolboy Mohammad Ali Awash beat Ayub Mohammad Hussain and Sabir Hussain to lift the 3km juniors marathon, which was flagged off from Al Nasr Leisureland and ended at the Iranian Sports Club. Ali received Dh4,000 and a cup presented by Emirates Sports Stores. Ayub and Sabir each got Dh2,000 and Dh1,000. Abdullah Mohammad Ali captured the Gulf News Trophy, winning the special marathon for the handicapped run over 3km. Ali Mohammad Saif of Dubai Handicap and Abdullah Mohammad Ali of Al Tiqa Club, Sharjah, came first and second in the 6km handicapped race.

December 24

1524 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama, who discovered a sea route around Africa to India, dies in Cochin, India.

1798 - Britain and Russia sign alliance against France.

1814 - US and Britain sign Treaty of Ghent in Belgium, ending War of 1812.

1937 - Japanese troops capture Hangchow in China.

1943 - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints General Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord.

1951 - Libya gains independence from Italy.

1979 - An estimated 80,000 Soviet soldiers invade Afghanistan.

1989 - Deposed Panamanian leader General Manuel Antonio Noriega surrenders.

1995 - Israel hands over Bethlehem to Palestine after 28 years of occupation.

1999 - The President of the Ivory Coast, Henri Konan Bédié, is overthrown in a coup. Robert Guei becomes military ruler.

2002 - Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurates the first line of the Delhi Metro.

2008 - An explosion tears through an apartment building in southern Ukraine, killing at least 17 people.

2009 - Yemen air strikes kill 34 Al Qaida militants in Shabwah province.

2010 - Former Kerala chief Minister and Congress Party veteran K. Karunakaran dies in a private hospital in India, he was 92.

2011 - A Southern California teenager, Jordan Romero, 15, became the youngest person to reach the summits of the seven tallest mountains on Earth.

2012 - An Afghan policewoman shoots and kills an American adviser in Kabul.

2013 - Egypt declares the country’s Muslim Brotherhood movement a terrorist organisation.