Nejha makes memorable comeback to debut track

Morocco's Nejha Bidwan made a memorable 'home-coming' at the July 5 Stadium, late on Wednesday, when she struck two gold medals within an hour on the penultimate day of the 10th Pan Arab Games here.

Returning to the track after a two-year absence, Bidwan made it a night to remember when she clocked 55.98 seconds in the 400 metres for women, and barely an hour later, she guided the Moroccan team to the gold in the 4x400 metres relay event as well.

Nearly thwarting her attempt at a second gold in the relay was the young and gutsy quartet from Sudan as they finished second best with a time of 3:38.53 compared to the winning time of 3:38.24.

Bidwan had taken time off the sport after she gave birth to her child last year. And it was this very stadium that she had made her debut a few years ago.

"Yes, it is like a home-coming for me. This place holds many close memories for me and I've manage to relive some of these tonight," she said after her second gold medal.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia continued with their domination of the sprint events at the Pan Arab Games when they ran away with the 4x100 metres relay record for men.

The quartet from Saudi Arabia clocked 39.41 seconds, chipping off a few hundredths of a second from the existing time of 39.60 seconds, which had been set by Qatar in 1992. Oman took the silver with a time of 40.82, while Morocco finished in the third spot for the bronze medal with a time of 40.94.

"Setting a new record is like a bonus in a competition. What is even more important is to have the gold medal for the country," beamed Saudi Arabia's Yahya Gahas after anchoring his team to the new record.

Another record falling on the penultimate day of the competitions was in the discus throw for women when Hassin Arafat of Egypt erased the old mark of 57.52 metres from Jordan's Nada Kawar in 1999 with a heave of 62.78 metres.

Also going down as a new record for the Games was the new time of 32:27.53 minutes from Algeria‚s Souad Eid Salem in the 10,000 metres for women.

Salem erased the old mark of 32:56.76 set by Morocco's Asmae Leghzaoui in 1999.

Returning to the track after a two-year absence, Bidwan made it a night to remember when she clocked 55.98 seconds in the 400 metres for women, and barely an hour later, she guided the Moroccan team to the gold in the women's 4x400 metres relay event as well.