Italy’s Luca Di Mauro, a member of the Italian Olympic Committee and head of university sport in Sicily, was present on the closing day and took part in the medal ceremony during a visit he is currently making to Tunisia.
Di Mauro expressed his great admiration for the Arab Championships and the importance of such gatherings for Arab and Islamic countries, saying they help develop athletes’ level and significantly improve their performance ahead of continental and global events.
Di Mauro also said he was seeking, during his current visit to Tunisia, to establish a partnership between the Tunisian and Italian athletics federations to exchange expertise and ways of understanding and cooperating between the two sides, stressing that Italy takes a keen interest in African countries because they have clearly become advanced in athletics.
Khaled Amara, deputy president of the Tunisian federation:
We succeeded in hosting, both technically and organisationally
Khaled Amara, deputy president of the Tunisian Athletics Federation and a member of the 5th Arab Championships organising committee, said the championships had achieved the required success both technically and organisationally.
Amara said: “The overall assessment of the championships was excellent, by everyone’s account. Organisationally, we hadn’t hosted any championship in Tunisia for almost five full years, so hosting the Arab Championships marks the start of Tunisia’s return to hosting Arab and continental sporting events too.”
On the technical side, Amara said: “The number of participants reached nearly 300 male and female athletes, which was a good turnout, in addition to 15 Arab countries, and everyone was present across most of the races and events. The results were good, thank God, and we proved Tunisia’s organisational capabilities, and we hope for the best and for more in future championships.”
Sulaiman Al Zaidi, president of the Arab federation: we hope to set up scientific programmes to discover talent
Sulaiman Al Zaidi, president of the Arab Athletics Federation, stressed that the fifth edition of the Arab Championships had revealed good talent expected to have a big future in the coming years, provided the Arab federations pay proper attention to it.
Al Zaidi noted that discovering talent is always the goal of junior competitions, serving as a means of identifying talent competing on the track and in the field.
He added: “This edition stood out for its high technical and skill levels, greater than in the previous four championships, and we must continue to pay attention to this championship in particular, because it is the real source for youth and senior championships, so that the athletics train does not stop in any Arab country.”
Al Zaidi also called for the establishment of scientific programmes to discover talent and to push junior athletes towards other Arab and continental competitions.
Championship record in the girls’ javelin for Egypt’s Salma Shams El Din
The fifth edition of the Arab Championships saw a new championship record in the girls’ javelin from Egyptian champion Salma Mohsen Shams El Din, who threw 42.91 metres, at a time when the previous championship record was 40.99 metres. The Arab record stands at 43.45 metres, however, and still stands, as Salma was unable to break it, settling for the championship record only. Iraq’s Adhraa Nabil Al Bawtani finished second in this event with 37.09 metres, Tunisia’s Rabab Al Abbasi took third with 34.09 metres, and behind her, her compatriot Oumaima Naouech finished fourth with 28.27 metres.
Iraq’s Hamza, the fastest junior in the Arab world
Iraq’s Hamza Shihab Hamidi won the title of fastest junior in the entire Arab world after winning the 100 metre dash in 11.18 seconds, the race that is always considered the showpiece of athletics races worldwide, and the race saw fierce competition between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, with Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Mohammed Hazazi taking second place and the silver medal after clocking 11.49 seconds, followed by his compatriot Hassan Ayman Ibrahim in third for the bronze medal in 11.62 seconds, while Tunisia’s Bilal Talmoudi finished fourth, Kuwait’s Mohammed Al Balushi came fifth and Tunisia’s Ashraf Bougara sixth
