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| TAMING THE WATERS: Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia competes in the men’s 200m backstroke final at the Arab Games yesterday. (Reuters |
Hosts Qatar won two more gold medals on the 11th day of the Arab Games here yesterday, but it was not enough for them to regain the second spot in the medal tally.
Tunisia, who had managed to take a slender one gold lead to topple the hosts from the second spot on Sunday, had another exceptional day at the Games. From the 32 gold medals up for grabs they pocketed nine to take their tally to 37 gold.
With 29 gold, Qatar now have a Herculean task in front of them and it looks unlikely that they could regain their lost ground in the remaining four days. Egypt, however, maintain their ascendancy at the top of the table with 69 gold.
Abdullah Jamal Dalool provided the hosts with the first gold of the day beating Mohamed Aly 4-2 in the men’s 60kg karate event finals. The second gold for Qatar came in sailing’s laser 4.7.
“It was the most difficult day for me. The winds were very strong and the competition was very hard since it’s the last day and everyone was giving his best to win.
“My places in today’s races weren’t really good but my scores from the beginning helped me a lot. Thank God, I’m so happy to win the gold medal,” said Ahmad al-Bakri, who led Qatar’s challenge in Laser 4.7.
The biggest disappointment of the day for Qatar came in the men’s 200m finals. Asian Games double gold medallist Seun Femi Ogunode, eyeing a grand double at the Arab Games after his win in the 100m, was piped by Aziz Ouhadi Morocco with a time of 20.69. Ogunode, who clocked 21.29 had to be content with silver, while the bronze was claimed by Abdullah al-Sooli of Oman with a time of 21.21.
Qatar registered a sensational 22-20 win against Tunsia to enter the final of the handball competition here yesterday. They now take on Egypt, who defeated Saudi Arabia 31-21 in the second semifinals.
Qatar’s ace shooter and rally driver Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah, too, had a forgettable day on day one of the skeet shooting competitions qualifying round one.
Al-Attiyah is currently placed joint seventh and cannot afford to miss a single shot in the next round today if he has to fancy any chance of qualifying for the final.
“The feeling is good but the result is not so good. The conditions changed and it started to get windy so I started to change my shooting style. This was wrong but then lif you see everybody else’s results their scores are low as well because of the wind,” said a dejected al-Attiyah.
Despite failing to make an impression al-Attiyah was of the view that he was feeling comfortable out there.
“Sometimes you feel bad but you shoot well and other times, like now, I feel good but my result is not so good,” added al-Attiyah who is well aware he cannot afford any slipup tomorrow.
“We do have 50 targets tomorrow and for me I have to now shoot 50 from 50 to reach the final. I will do my best. Today is finished. From the three rounds I shot 70 from 75.
“Last week in training I was shooting 50 from 50 and 100 from 100 but the weather has changed now with the wind and we have to see.”
Al-Attiyah said his show had nothing to do with the pressure of performing well in front of the crowd.
“I don’t feel pressure but sometimes when you feel really good and you feel confident you trust yourself, but you can make some mistakes and that is what happened to me out there today.”
Kuwait’s Zaid al-Mutairi leads with a perfect 75 from 75. He is followed by UAE royal Saeed al-Maktoum with a score of 74, while Qatar’s Masoud Hamad is currently in the fourth place with a score of 72. Qatari women shooters comprising Amal Ahmed al-Rafeea, Gholome Reem al-Sharshani and Khamis al-Tebaishi won silver in the women’s skeet team event.