JEDDAH, 30 April 2007 — Saudi Arabia won the open water race in the GCC Swimming Championship on Thursday at the Half Moon Bay beach in Alkhobar.
The Saudis emerged champions in the 5-kilometer event by virtue of their gold and bronze medal finish in the junior division and silver medal in the senior division. Kuwait placed second and Qatar third in the team standings in the championship sponsored by Mobily. Oman and Bahrain completed the countries that saw action in the event that the Kingdom last hosted 27 years ago.
Saudi Mohammed Al-Ghareeb missed the gold medal in the seniors competition after he was beaten by Marzouq Al-Salem of Kuwait. The bronze medal went to Qatari Anas Sameer.
Loai Tashkandi, 17, and his brother Hazim, 16, punctuated a big day for the hosts when they landed the gold and bronze in the junior division.
Loai told Arab News they were glad with their performance and that he still sees the Saudi team as the strongest among other Gulf countries.
“We all did good, but we thank God we performed very well.” The team according to Loai had undergone a training camp for a week before the event. The brothers had between them won more than 40 gold medals from GCC championships alone.
The silver medal in the junior event went to Abdullah Al-Badr from Kuwait who was ahead of both Saudis in the beginning of the race, but faltered in the stretch.
