Saudi Arabian sprinters stamp their authority
The Saudi Arabian sprinters stamped their authority at 10th Pan Arab Games even as Algerian Baya Rahouli stole the honours on the final day of the track and field competition.
The Saudi Arabian sprinters stamped their authority at 10th Pan Arab Games even as Algerian Baya Rahouli stole the honours on the final day of the track and field competition.
The Saudi Arabian men's 4x400metre relay quartet were unstoppable from the start as they romped home to win the gold with a time of 3:03.03 minutes.
The relay was fiercely contested with the Saudis being challenged by the hosts in the final lap.
But Awad Al Bichi stepped up the pace to leave the Algerian. Morocco took the silver and Algeria the bronze.
"There's no secret to our success in the sprints," said Al Bichi said. "We've just been working hard at being the best. And all these medals are the result of the hard work."
Also delighting the home crowd with a strong performance to win her fourth gold medal in as many days was Baya Rahouli.
The muscular 25-year-old overcame a nagging tendon strain on her right foot to power to the gold in the 100 metres hurdles for women.
Rahouli, who won four golds from five events, was named best 'athlete of the Games.'
"It's the spectators who kept me going," said the veteran of two Olympic Games.
Etching his name in the record books was Sudan's Todd Jouda Matthews who won the 110metres hurdles in the smart time of 13.45secs.
"I came prepared for this run," said Matthews, who formerly competed for the USA. "It meant a lot to me to come up with this record-breaking show for Sudan."
The most engrossing tussle of the evening was in the women's 800 metres final between home favourite Naheeda Touhani and veteran Ameena Eid Hammou from Morocco.
Touhani and Eid Hammou allowed Tunisia's Abeer Ameen to set a leisurely early pace, with the pair just staying in her shadow.
However, approaching the final bend, Eid Hammou stepped up a gear to pass Ameen but was finally caught at the finish by Touhani. She won in a time of 2:34.49.
"In close races like this one, the timing is not important at all. But the gold medal definitely is," she said, smiling.
Algeria's Houidar Aghoul produced a final burst to beat the Moroccan duo of Abdul Rahim Al Kumari and Hesham Blani in the men's 5,000 metres. Aghoul won in a time of 13:24.73 which shattered the existing record of 13:35.73 set by Qatar's Ahmad Ebrahim Warsama in 1997 in Beirut.
