JEDDAH, 10 April 2005 — Saudi Champion Ahmad Safwan Al-Kudmani set the pool ablaze yesterday when he smashed the Arab record en route to a golden effort in the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games here.

He became the first Saudi to land a gold medal in the 50 meters breaststroke with a time of 28.99 secs that comprehensively beat the existing Arab mark.

Kudmani’s effort was all the more creditable as he beat back swimmers from Kazakhstan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Malaysia, Iran and Syria.

On a day when Kazakhstan swimmers were to the fore, Kudmani had to draw on all his abilities to turn back the challenge from Kazakhstan’s Rustov, who was second. Khattat Ayman of Egypt finished third.

The president of the Saudi Swimming Federation, Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Fahd ibn Abdullah, said Kudmani’s golden display is clear evidence of the attention paid by the federation toward this sport.

This achievement by Kudmani is just another feather in the growing list of achievements by Saudis in different types of sports. He said that Saudi Arabia has mobilized all its resources to achieve good results in these Games.

Kudmani thanked Prince Abdul Aziz for his continuous support. He said that he faced a very strong competition during the race, but was confident of coming away with the gold.

Last October, Kudmani won the gold in the same event and the bronze medal in 100 meters breaststroke in Algeria. Kudmani also landed the silver medal in the Arab Games 4X100 relay.

In the 1,500 meters freestyle, Egypt’s Muhammad Mukhtar beat Muhammad Al-Masri of Syria in a fast finish with Meihi Muhammad of Tunisia taking the bronze.

In the 50 meters butterfly, Kazakhstan’s Khadeef took the gold ahead of Ahmed Abdou of Egypt and Edar of Kazakhstan in that order.

In the 4 x 200 meters relay, Kazakhstan team dominated the pool to win the gold ahead of Egypt with Tunisia claiming the bronze.

With competition starting in other disciplines in the game, action was seen in basketball, handball and volleyball in Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah and Taif.

In the basketball competition, results were not surprising when strong teams, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Azerbaijan, chalked up emphatic victories over Yemen, Tajikistan and Somalia respectively.

Azerbaijan showed that they are the team to watch as they virtually ran rings round the hapless Somalis.

In Madinah, Azerbaijan handed Somalia a 106-29 drubbing in Group C.

The young Somali team was no match to the Azerbaijanis that boasts many professional players.

Even playing at an easy pace, the Azerbaijani team sank baskets after baskets in quick succession to run up a 57-19 lead by half-time.

The Somali team in the final two quarters could add only 10 more points as the Azerbaijanis kept up a virtual beeline to the Somali basket.

Their 106-29 victory also sent a strong message to the other teams in the group.

In the same group, Saudi Arabia found no difficulty against the Yemeni team, posting a 72-40 verdict. The game was totally dominated by the Saudi players, though they eased up a bit at the end.

Their performance promises a classic Saudi Arabia-Azerbaijan clash in the group, and the winners could well end up topping it.

In a Group D match, Libya did not have any difficulty in winning against Tajikistan, 111-55. As the score indicates, the match was also one-sided. Libya set the tempo of the match from the first moment, and their formidable passing and teamwork proved too much for the Tajiks.

In the other Group D match Tunisia, another strong team in this discipline, had too much firepower against Pakistan in their 121-37 romp.

In Group A, Jordan cagers too showed their mettle when they took Kyrgyzstan in their stride to notch a 80-55 victory.

In Group B, Iran too began their campaign in style with a 112-48 beating of Palestine, and Morocco thrashed Maldives 138-37 in the same group.

In handball competition, Saudi Arabia sustained their winning spree when they handily beat Pakistan 56-32 in Group A at King Abdul Aziz Sports City in Makkah. The match was totally dominated by the Saudis. Iraq provided a tough competition to an experienced Egypt at Wehda Club Hall. The Iraqi team gave a good fight, but Egypt, one of the medal contenders, rode on their experience to win 35-29.

In other actions, Algeria routed Sudan 44-7, Tunisia beat Azerbaijan 41-25 and Syria outlasted Senegal 37-33.

In the volleyball event, Saudi Arabian spikers, displaying good setting and smashing, breezed past Syria 3-0 in Group D. The other winner from the group yesterday was Algeria, who too recorded a 3-0 verdict against Jordan.

In the two Group A matches, Egypt thrashed Azerbaijan and Yemen outplayed Tajikistan by identical 3-0 verdicts. In the lone Group C match, Turkmenistan defeated Chad 3-0.

— Additional input from Mahmoud Ahmad