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| TOP OF THE WORLD: Wohdan celebrates on the podium after the medals ceremony yesterday |
Gymnast Shaden Wohdan created Arab Games history for Qatar yesterday when she claimed two gold medals, swelling her nation’s gold tally to 15. Egypt, however, continued to lead the medal table by a huge margin, having collected 33 gold medals so far, while Tunisia are in third place with 12.
Wohdan won gold with clinical performances in the women’s floor and beam events. She accumulated 13.100 for her effort in the beam final and 12.750 in the floor to clinch golds. On Tuesday, she had won two silver and a bronze.
“Two gold, two silver, one bronze - my happiness is indescribable. My dream was to win gold on beam then floor came along too. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I thought I would be ranked second on floor,” said an overjoyed Wohdan, whose two silver and a bronze had come earlier in the women’s vault, individual all-around and uneven bars.
Wohdan’s was happier because Qatari women gymnasts had done better than their male counterparts. “It’s a great achievement and I’ve made history for Qatar. The girls were better than guys this time,” said Wohdan adding that it was her immense training that helped her reap rich rewards.
“I think my training and all the sacrifices have helped me see this day. I still can’t believe that I have managed two gold medals,” said the 16-yr-old.
Pumped up by the success Wohdan is now eyeing the Gymnastics World Cup to be held here in Doha next year. “I will go to a summer camp but I still don’t know where. And definitely I will take part in the World Cup in Qatar next March. I would love to put up another good show there. This tournament has definitely been a learning curve and a big boost for my career.”
The silver in the floor event went to Salma el-Said of Egypt, while the bronze was won by Morocco’s Chaimaa Zemzami. In the beam event, the silver and bronze was claimed by Egyptian pair Salma el-Said and Aya Mahgoub.
The third gold of the day for Qatar came in the Team Dessage Team Test at the Al Shaqab arena. Rashid al-Marri, Ahmed al-Badi, Mohammed al-Marri and Abdulla al-Marri on horses Paso Doble, Argentino , Brentano Vdzuuth and Mabruk went on to accumulate 69.901. The silver went to Lebanon (58.153) and bronze for Iraq (41.009).
All four Qatari riders placed in the top six among 12 entrants. Asian Games gold medallist Rashid al-Marri led the way with 68.784%. Mohammed al-Marri and Abdulla al- Marri ranked second and third with the team’s youngest member, 28-year-old, Ahmed al- Badi, following in sixth.
“As a Qatari, it is an honour to participate in this fantastic competition. Our horses were a little nervous because of the large arena and the little wind made them tense,” said an elated al-Badi.
Abdullah al-Marri credited the success to the training they had put in Netherlands. “I feel the success has come due to the hard work that we had put in. Because of our training in Netherlands, we had to miss Ramadan and Eid, but all I can say that it was worth it,” said al-Marri.
Abdulla al-Marri also echoed the same feelings as his teammates saying, “It is a great honour for me to participate in the Arab Games, especially because it is held for the first time here in Qatar. Our joy has no bounds as we have managed to win gold.”
Silver for Qatar came in the men’s 74kg Taekwando, when Saad Ahmed went down fighting to Anas al-Adarbi 3-6 in the final. Mahmood al-Sadi also added another silver to the hosts tally by winning silver in the men’s horizontal bar. The silver of the day for Qatar came in the women’s 25m Pistol Team event. Nasra Mohammed Mahmoud, Souad Waleed al-Khater and Mubarak Hanadi Salem amassed 1640 points to finish behind UAE. The bronze went to Iraq.