JEDDAH, 7 August 2007 — Saudi swimmers arrive today from Casablanca, Morocco bringing with them one gold, one silver and four bronze medals. The event in Morocco was the 8th Junior Arab Swimming Championship, which ended yesterday.
Saudi Arabia won the gold and bronze medals in the 400-meter individual medley event and the silver in the 200 meter freestyle event. The Kingdom added the bronze medals in the 100 meters freestyle, 800 meters freestyle, and 200 meters individual medley to raise the total to six medals in the five-day competition that started on Thursday.
“It’s my first time to compete in an Arab championship and I’m glad I got a gold and bronze medals,” Loai Tashkandi told Arab News in a telephone interview from Morocco. He said the competition was tougher than the GCC championships and that they were required to meet higher winning standard.
“I am pleased with the team performance and competing in the championship was very good.”
Brothers Loai and Hazim Tashkandi had a successful start on Thursday. Loai exceeded expectations when he won the gold in the Under 16 400m individual medley in 44.9 seconds. Hazim romped off with the bronze medal in the same event with a clocking of 45.4 seconds.
“We have really been focusing on training this past year and it is paying off,” Loai said. “Ever since the Saudi Arabian Swimming Federation hired a coach to work at the Jeddah Olympic Center we’ve been able to really make some progress.”
Prince Abdulaziz ibn Fahad ibn Abdullah Al-Saud, president of the Saudi Arabian Swimming Federation, congratulated the swimmers. “We are so proud of Loai’s and Hazim’s achievements. In fact, we are proud of our entire team and I commend their dedication to excellence. We are looking forward to continued successes at this competition.”
Saad Al-Qahtani, who failed in his bid for a medal on opening day along with another young talent Mousa Al-Mousa, returned to the pool the next day to claim the bronze in the U-14 100m freestyle in 57.74 seconds.
“Saad’s real challenge that week was to deal with the jet lag,” said SASF head coach, Alex Borodai in reference to the 15-hour time difference between Morocco and Brisbane, Australia where Al-Qahtani trains and attends school.
He said that normally a swimmer needs nearly two weeks in order to adjust to this type of travel.
“Saad had less than half that time. But he’s always been a real fighter in his races and he’s probably our best swimmer with regard to his attitude toward training and racing. He’s just tenacious, and I knew he wouldn’t let a little thing like jet lag get in the way of medal. We are all very proud and pleased with his performance,” Borodai said.
Loai on Saturday added a bronze medal to his collection in the 800-meter freestyle, where he clocked 8:48. Not to be outdone, Hazim put away his second bronze in the 200 meters individual medley.
SASF General Secretary Ali Oun Al-Zayed said, “It’s never easy to travel and adjust to a new swimming environment.” “I was encouraged by Loai’s gold medal on the opening night of competition, and the rest of the team has really come around these past few days,” he added.
The team won the GCC Swimming Championship in April. Next up is the Final Summer International Competition to be held in Indonesia.
