” The 2009 World Athletics Championships .. enters the decisive stage tonight .
Arab runners prepare to pounce on “1500m” gold
Four gold medals awarded today, and tomorrow the 5000m heats .
Hurricane Bolt eases through in the 200m as the Arab champion exits early .
Today the World Athletics Championships, currently being held in the German capital Berlin from 15-23 August, saw four exciting finals in the discus, the men’s 1500m, and the women’s 100m hurdles and 800m. On the Qatari side, promising Qatari champion Ahmed Deeb Al Mughanni bowed out of the discus competition in the first round yesterday, after recording 59.16m, placing 24th among a field of 30 champions representing the world’s elite discus throwers.. Deeb’s first participation, at 24 years old, was aimed at giving him the experience needed for future international competitions, while today’s discus final was to be held among a galaxy of the world’s discus giants..
Khalifa Abdulmalik: our goal is to prepare Deeb for the future .
Khalifa Abdulmalik, manager of the national team, commented on Ahmed Deeb’s result in the discus and his mark falling short of expectations, saying .. promising athlete Ahmed Deeb was taking part in the World Athletics Championships for the first time .. and he is a fine talent by experts’ own admission, noting that he had been out of training for “4 months” due to unavoidable circumstances, and that his preparation plans were currently on the right track according to his coach’s reports, affirming that De
eb has a great deal to offer in the discus if he sets his sights on achieving the numerical progress that would qualify him in the future to compete with the top champions, and that he is second to none of them in physique and focus .. he only lacks the natural technical and tactical development the discus event requires, which needs great muscular and mental coordination to improve his personal marks, noting that there are many continental and international competitions awaiting Deeb to reach world level, God willing .
Runner Mubarak Shami prepares for the marathon .
Qatari runner Mubarak Shami, gold medallist at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, arrived in Berlin yesterday from his training camp to begin serious preparations for the Berlin marathon, and Shami’s chances of claiming a medal looked strong despite the participation of a host of top African champions .
Tomorrow the 5000m heats .. and Shaheen affirms his readiness .
God willing, the 5000m heats begin tomorrow with the participation of Qatar’s runner Saif Saeed Shaheen and his teammate James Kwalia. For his part, Shaheen affirmed his readiness for the race, noting that he had followed long training camps interspersed with numerous competitions.. Shaheen, the world record holder in the 3000m steeplechase, said he was making great efforts to regain his usual form to reclaim his title.. It is worth noting that the 5000m final will be held next Saturday, before the closing day of the Berlin Worlds..
Schoolchildren at the Olympic Stadium .
Berlin’s Olympic Stadium saw a crowd of schoolchildren from Berlin’s schools, whose pupils are on their summer holiday, but who answered the call and flocked to Berlin’s stands to follow the morning session, which usually sees modest attendance. Yesterday’s scene was different, however, with large numbers turning out and thoroughly enjoying the morning competitions .
“5” Arab runners in the 1500m final .
On the other hand, Arab runners’ chances looked strong in the 1500m final, amid disappointing results so far, and the opportunity was there today for Arab champions to reach the podium through the participation of “five” outstanding runners out of a total of “12” champions contesting the “battle for gold”, among them three Moroccans — Amine Laalou, Mohamed Moustaoui and Abdelaati Iguider — and two Bahrainis — Youssef Saad Kamel and Belal Mansour Ali.
The five runners aimed to bring the title back to the Arab world, having won gold nine times out of 11 editions so far, including four consecutive titles for Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj (Athens 1997, Seville 1999, Edmonton 2001 and Paris 2003), three titles for Algeria’s Noureddine Morceli (1991 in Tokyo, 1993 in Stuttgart and 1995 in Gothenburg), and one title each for Somalia’s Abdi Bile (1987 in Rome) and Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi (2005 in Helsinki).
It was the first time that
three Moroccan runners had featured in the 1500m final at the World Championships since the first occasion in 2001 in Edmonton (“El Guerrouj, Abderrahim Hachlaf and Adil Kaouch”).
Estonia’s Gerd Kanter, the Beijing 2008 Olympic champion, had strong chances of retaining the world title he had won two years earlier.
Women’s 800m final .
In the 800m, Kenya’s Janeth Jepkosgei would not have an easy task defending her title, given the difficulties she faced reaching the final, most recently in the semi-final, when she booked her place as one of two runners with the fastest times after second place, clocking 1:59.47 to finish third in her heat.
Jepkosgei had fallen in the first round and finished last in her heat after being obstructed by promising South African runner Caster Semenya, but the IAAF decided to allow her to contest the semi-final.
Semenya looked to have strong chances of winning the world title, having been the best in the heats.
Kenya’s other runner, Pamela Jelimo, the Beijing 2008 Olympic champion, had also gone out in the semi-final after withdrawing from her heat through injury.
100m hurdles final .
In the 100m hurdles, competition was set to be exciting between American title-holder Michelle Perry, her compatriot Dawn Harper, the Beijing Olympic champion, and Australia’s Sally McLellan, the Olympic silver medallist.
” Bolt through to the final as Mostafa exits the 200m “
In the 200m qualifying heats, brilliant Jamaican sprinter Bolt, the 100m world record holder, as usual made himself the star, reaching the second round after topping heat five without difficulty in 20.70 seconds. , while
Arab champion Egypt’s Omar Mostafa was eliminated from the first round of the 200m. Mostafa, who won gold in both the 100m and 200m at the 2007 Arab Championships, finished seventh and last in heat two in 21.44 seconds, having eased off in the closing metres due to an injury to his right thigh. Mostafa was not the only Arab to exit the first round, as Saudi Arabia’s Hamed Hamdan Al Bishi was also eliminated, finishing fifth in heat six in 21 seconds, along with Morocco’s Khalid El Idrissi Zougari, who finished fifth in heat three in 21.24 seconds, and Jordan’s Khalil Al Hanahneh, who finished sixth in heat one in 21.98 seconds.
The UAE’s Omar Belal Juma Al Salfa was the only Arab to succeed in reaching the second round.
Arab results in the Worlds heats .
Among the most notable results for the Arab champions at the Berlin Worlds, title-holder Bahrain’s Maryam Jamal qualified for the 1500m semi-final
Jamal topped the first heat with ease, clocking 4:08.76, ahead of Spain’s Nuria Fernández (4:08.79), Ethiopia’s Meskerem Assefa (4:08.86), Morocco’s Mariem Alaoui Selsouli (4:08.86) and Ukraine’s Iryna Lishchynska, bronze medallist at the last edition (4:08.95).
The top six in each heat qualified directly for the semi-final, alongside six runners with the fastest times across the three heats after the top six places.
Jamal affirmed her great readiness to defend her world title, saying “defending my title is one of my priorities at this championship, my preparations are good and I hope to claim the world title”.
Jamal explained that “the race went well and I had no difficulty securing my place, but the important thing is the semi-final, which will be extremely difficult because every runner wants to be in the final”.
Also reaching the semi-final were Morocco’s Ibtissam Lakhouad and Bahrain’s Mimi Belete, after the former finished sixth in heat two in 4:08.21 and the latter seventh in the same heat in 4:08.36, qualifying as one of six runners with the fastest times after the top six places.
By contrast, Morocco’s other runner Siham Hilali failed to qualify for the next round, finishing tenth in heat three in 4:10.57.
Sudan’s Rabah Yousif and Libya’s Mohamed Ashour Khawaja reach the 400m semi-final
Yousif finished third in heat one in 45.55 seconds, behind Britain’s Robert Tobin (45.50) and Eritrea’s David Gillick (45.54).
Khawaja, meanwhile, finished fifth in heat seven in 45.56 seconds (a Libyan record) and secured his qualification as one of three runners with the fastest times after the top three in each heat, who qualified directly for the semi-final.
By contrast, Sudan’s other runner Najmeldin Ali Abubaker was eliminated, finishing sixth in heat three in 46.48 seconds, as was Saudi Arabia’s Yousef Al Mashrahi, who finished fifth in heat six in 47.03 seconds. The semi-final was held today. Egypt’s Omar El Ghazaly also reached the discus final, finishing sixth in heat one and tenth overall after recording 62.84m, securing his place among the top 12.
The podium at Osaka 2007
( 1500m: 1. USA’s Bernard Lagat 3:34.77 – 2. Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi 3:35.00 – 3. Kenya’s Shadrack Kibet Korir – 3:35.04
– – Discus: 1. Estonia’s Gerd Kanter 68.94m – 2. Germany’s Robert Harting 66.68m 3. Netherlands’ Rutger Smith 66.42m
– 800m: 1. Kenya’s Janeth Jepkosgei 1:56.04 2. Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi 1:56.99 3. Spain’s Maite Fernández 1:57.62
– 100m hurdles: 1. USA’s Michelle Perry 12.46 2. Canada’s Perdita Felicien 12.49 3. Jamaica’s Delloreen Ennis-London 12.50 )
