JEDDAH, 30 March 2007 — Al-Safa emerged triumphant in the Kingdom Athletic Championship Super League at the Prince Naif ibn Abdul Aziz Stadium in Al-Qateef, outpacing 12 other clubs in the recently-concluded meet.

Al-Safa placed first with 140 points, while second place went to Al-Hilal with 126. Al-Ahli followed next with 111, with Damk taking the next spot with 87. Fifth position went to Al-Jubail with 75, followed by Najran with 64, Al-Khaleej with 62.5, Al-Ittihad with 54, Al-Rawdah with 23, Al-Watani with 21, 1Okaz with 19,5 and Al-Nakheel with 11 points in that order.

The general director of the head office in Qateef Adil Al-Sayigh was the chief guest. He along with technical committee member from the Saudi Athletic Federation Habeeb Al-Rubaan, presented the athletes with their medals.

Al-Safa’s striking long jumper Muhammad Al-Khuwalidi told Arab News these competitions are very important and are very keen, “and that’s the thing that adds enthusiasm.”

He also said, Saudi athletics is becoming more competitive, especially with the growing number of new athletes, whose determination now surpasses their skills. He added, “You can see it in their eyes when they compete with us. They are encourages to compete with us and this not only motivates them, but also us to be good models to them.”

Al-Khuwalidi is the ranked No. 6 in the world, according to the International Association of Athletic Federation. He also placed first in the July 2006 Worlds with a record, 8.48 meters, and finished second in Stuttgart IAAF World Athletics Final in September 2006. Moreover, he won the bronze medal in the Athens IAAF World Cup 2006 in 8.11 m.

For Al-Rubaan, the competition was successful especially that it included the participation of 12 clubs and no complaints were made by any clubs. “However the absence of Hamdan Al-Bishi and Yahya Habeeb did lessen the excitement here,” he said.

Salim Al-Yami, who took the mantle of the fastest man in the meet, and told the press later that he was fit for both 100m and 200m, but his coach wanted him to make a slow comeback by not participating in more than one discipline. But he promised to run the double in the following championships.

Al-Yami of Hilal was back on track after a year on the sidelines due to injury and managed to clinch first place in the 100m. Muhammad Al-Fardan of Safa placed second and Ahmad Al Obaid of Al-Khaleej came third.

In the 110m hurdles Mustafa Al-Ajami of Safa took first place, Ali Al-Zaki of Khaleej took second and Badr Al-Buaineen of Jubail finished third.

Emad Nour of Damk added the 1,500m victory to his laurels, and he was followed home by Okaz’s Hamza Shareif and with Damk’s Moussa Aseeri taking third. Al-Khuwailidi also placed first here, while second place went to Ahmed Faiz of Jubail and third to Asaad Sharahili of Najran.

In the pole vault, Hussain Mahdi of Safa, Duaij Al-Sagai of Al-Rawdah, and Abdulhadi Al-Yousif of Damk took the top three spots recpectively.

Safa’s Abdullah Al-Joud placed first in the 5,000m, with Ali Al-Shahrani of Ahli, and Basheir Al-Qahtani of Damk taking the next two spots in that order. Ali Al-Jadaani of Ahli hurled the javelin to the maximum distance for the gold, with Muhammad Al-Matroud of Safa, and Ahmed Al-Awami of Safa coming in second and third. Shot putter Saeed Al-Yami of Najran led Ameen Al-Aradi of Khaleej and Hassan Al-Bakheit of Safa to the top three slots.

Other results:

400M: 1. Younis Houssa of Ahli, 2. Khalid Basheir of Hilal, 3. Eissa Zaraa of Ahli.

100mx4: 1. Safa, 2. Khaleej, 3. Hilal.

Hammer: 1. Talal Abdulbaqi of Ittihad, 2. Abdulaziz Hawasawi of Jubail, 3. Abdulla Majrashi of Hilal.

Triple jump: 1. Rasheid Al-Rumani of Hilal, 2. Moussa Alkam of Hilal, 3. Mansour Masrahi of Ittihad.

High jump: 1. Jameel Qasim of Ittihad, 2.Hashim Al-Agabi of Ittihad, 3. Qasim Saeed of Najran third.

200m: Emad Hawasawi of Ahli. 2. Moussa Hawasawi of Ahli, 3. Yassir Al-Nashir of Jubail.

400m hurdles: Muhammad Daak, 2. Emad Murabaa of Hilal, 3. Ali Al-Zaki of Khaleej.

800m: 1. Ali Al-Deraan of Hilal, 2. Moussa Aseeri of Damk, 3. Emad Nour of Ahli.

3,000 m: 1. Hamza Shareif of Okaz, 2. Ibrahim Khaloufah of Ahli, 3. Muhammad Attiyah of Damk.

10,000m: Ibrahim Khaloufah of Ahli, 2. Abdullah Al-Joud of Safa, 3. Ali Al-Shahrani of Ahli.

Decathlon: 1. Ahmed Nezar of Safa, 2. Abdullah Al-Doussari of Hilal, 3. Yousif Al-Salman of Jubail

400mx4: 1. Hilal, 2. Ahli, 3. Safa.