Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli competes during the men’s 400m individual medley final at the Arab Games in Doha yesterday
Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia confirmed his world class and started his long journey through the 2011 Arab Games by clinching two gold medals - to his pride and satisfaction.
The spectators who attended day one’s finals at the Hamad Aquatic Centre not only watched the most decorated athlete of the Games competing here, but also enjoyed his thrilling 200m freestyle final.
Mellouli was trailing to Kuwait’s Yousef Alaskari until the last metres of the race, but came through at the end to steal victory with a time of 1min 59.98sec against his opponent’s 2:00.75. 
Earlier in the day, the Olympic gold medallist and world champion had earned gold in the men’s 400m individual medley. He finished first in 4:15.94, but faced a tough opponent in countryman Taki M’Rabet, who led for 250 metres, but could not maintain it. M’Rabet grabbed the silver medal in 4:18.15 and Morad Berrada of Morocco snatched bronze with 4:28.27.
“I will compete in 12 or maybe 15 events, but I don’t care for such a busy agenda. I feel it is my duty to serve Tunisia. My goal here is not to set records, but only to win medals and help my country to get the second place in the overall medal tally of the Arab Games,” explained Mellouli. The US-born Katya Bachrouche of Lebanon used her class and experience obtained in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, to take gold in the women’s 200m freestyle. The 22-year-old former captain of the University of Virginia’s swimming team was third after the first 100m, behind Rowan Elbadry of Egypt and Sara El Bekri  of Morocco but swam the last 100 metres in sub-31 seconds for a comfortable win. El Bekri grabbed the silver and Zeineb Khalfallah of Tunisia bronze.