TDT | Manama
Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain sprinter and former world champion Kemi Adekoya won his third gold medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China yesterday.
Kemi won the women’s 400m hurdles title in style, setting a new Asiad record in the process. Her victory added to the gold medals she won in the women’s 400m and as part of the Bahrain mixed 4x400m relay team.
Kemi’s gold medal was the highlight of the national team’s medal win on the fifth day of the seven-day track and field competition held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium yesterday.
Kingdom athletes would have also won a bronze medal in the women’s 4x100m relay.
The quartet of Fatima Mubarak, Edion Odion, Zenab Moussa and Hajar Al-Khaldi placed third in the final, but were later disqualified.
With yesterday’s single medal win, Bahrain’s total medal tally at Hangzhou now stands at 12.
This tally included seven gold medals, one silver medal and four bronze medals, placing the Saudi sports hero in ninth place in the medal ranking table based on gold medals and 16th in the medal ranking table based on totals.
Bahrain maintained its top position among Arab countries out of 35 countries that won medals.
This year’s Asian Games have come to a close, with the various sports extravaganza scheduled to conclude on Saturday.
In the women’s 400m hurdles final, Kemi competed alongside fellow Bahraini Aminat Jamal.
Kemi got off to a strong start and became the clear leader near the final corner.
The 2016 indoor 400m world champion maintained a comfortable lead all the way to the finish on the home straight, crossing the line alone to win in 54.45 seconds.
Her time was a new Asian Games record, beating the 55.09 seconds set by Kemi at the 2014 Asiad in Incheon, South Korea.
Kemi, 30, won her third gold medal in Hangzhou and extended her record for gold medals at the Asian Games to five. She previously won the 400m hurdles and 400m titles in Incheon.
China’s Jiadi Mo won the silver medal in 55.01 seconds, while India’s Vitya Ramraj won the bronze medal in 55.68 seconds, narrowly taking the final podium spot from Aminat, who finished in 56.84 seconds.
Disqualification
Meanwhile, in the women’s 4x100m relay final, Fatima got off to a solid start in the first leg, but later struggled to pass the crucial baton to Ededion.
Zenab then took over, and finally Hajar, who did a great job on the final straight and finished in 3rd place.
Bahrain should have won the bronze medal, but was subsequently disqualified for passing the baton outside the takeover zone, resulting in an early and late takeover.
China was promoted to gold, Thailand to silver and Malaysia to bronze.
Bahrain’s men’s 4x400m relay team qualified for the final race at the athletics stadium yesterday as well.
They finished fourth in their first round heat, good enough to be among the eight teams competing for a medal.
The Bahraini quartet, which included Musa Is Ah, Abbas Yusuf Abbas, Hussein Al Doseri and Abbas Abubakar Abbas, finished the four-lap sprint in 3 minutes 07.38 seconds, which was This was the highest record of the season.
The final was held today at 3:35pm (Bahrain time) and the other participating teams were Iraq, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Qatar, and Thailand.
Marta Jota also reached the final in the women’s 800m.
She competed in the first of two heats and placed second in 2:06.85.
With the fifth fastest time of the round, Marta will be among the eight competitors vying for gold at 2:25pm Bahrain time today.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Tiguest Mekonnen and Bontu Levitu placed sixth and seventh in the women’s 5000m final.
Tigest finished the race in 15:36.58 and Bontu clocked 15:49.05.
In the men’s triple jump final, Bahrain’s Umar Mahamat was ninth, but he achieved a personal best of 15.65 meters on his second attempt.
Other athletes competing for medals among Bahrain’s elite athletes today are Birhanu Balou and Dawit Fikadu in the men’s 5,000m final scheduled to start at 2:40pm Bahrain time.
The women’s 4x400m relay team will also compete and aim for gold in Bahrain at 3:35 p.m.
Ballew also won gold in the men’s 10,000m in Hangzhou last week and will be aiming for a double long-distance title.