Sbai Hassanine of Tunisia on his way to winning the men's 20km race walk at the Arab Games (© Slim Gomri)
Tunisia’s Sbai Hassanine provided the highlight of day one of the 14th Arab Championships at the Rades Stadium when he set a Championship record to win the men’s 20km Walk competition clocking 1:28.17.
Qatari, Mabrouk Salah Naceur, was well adrift in second in 1:38.39, even further off the pace was Algerian’s Hichem Majbar, third in 1:39.05. Tunisia’s Hatem Ghoula, who was fifth at the World Championships with 1:20:19, was absent from this edition of the championships and remains a class apart with his Arab record of 1:19.02 (1997).
Tunisia’s Monia Kari, 34, was able to win the gold medal in the women’s Discus Throw with a 54.61m effort far lower than her previous Arab record of 61.74m set in 1996.
Algeria also took the gold medal in the men’s Long Jump through Nima Issam (8.09m), Ahmed Faiz Marzouk of Saudi Arabia won the silver with a 8.08m effort and Salah Abdelaziz Haddad of Kuwait won the bronze.
Yamile Aldama from Sudan, of course better known as a Triple Jump specialist, won comfortably the women’s Long Jump gold medal with a 6.19m national record effort, while Sudan’s Nawel El-Jack, the World Youth champion, won the women’s 400m (53.43).
Qatar’s Khaled Habeche Souidi won the men’s Shot Put (19.70), and Aissa Ismail’s won the 10,000m in 28.36.39.
In the women’s 100m, Tunisia’s Hamrouni Awatef was rewarded with a Championship record of 11.90. Other notable performances for Tunisia were set in the men’s 110m Hurdles where Mhirsi Hamdi (13.82) and Ben Ahmed Aymen (13.86) were respectively first and second. Mbarek Ata Mbarek of Saudi Arabia was third (13.96).
Tunisia is now in the pole position on the medal table. Sudan, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Syria follow in that order.
Slim Gomri for the IAAF
Selected Results
Men
10,000m
1 Essa Ismail Rashed QAT 28.36.39
2 Khaled Kamel BRN 28.36.88
3 Chehine Mahboub BRN 30.29.15
110m Hurdles
1 Mhirsi Hamdi TUN 13.82
2 Ben Ahmed Aymen TUN 13.86
3 Mbarek Ata Mbarek KSA 13.96
Long Jump
1 Nima Issam ALG 8.09
2 Ahmed Faiz Marzouk KSA 8.08
3 Salah Abdelaziz Haddad KUW 7.63
Shot Put
1 Khaled Habash Suwaidi QAT 19.70
2 Yasser Fathi Ibrahim EGY 18.06
3 Ahmed Abel Gholoum KUW 17.77
20km Walk
1 Sbai Hassanine TUN 1:28.17
2 Mabrouk Salah Naceur QAT 1:38.39
3 Majbar Hichem ALG 1:39.05
Women
100m
1 Hamrouni Awatef TUN 11.90
2 Faten Abdennebi BRN 12.03
3 Yousra Majdi Douidar EGY 12.06
400m
1 Nawal El-Jack 53.43
2 Mournira Al-Saleh 56.34
Long Jump
1 Yamile Aldama SUD 6.19 NR
2 Hamrouni Awatef TUN 5.99
3 Methlouthi Nejoua TUN 5.65
Discus Throw
1 Kari Monia TUN 54.61
2 Saadaoui Kalthoum TUN 50.91
3 Marwa Ahmed Hussein EGY 33.45
