JEDDAH, 12 April 2005 — It was Egypt’s turn to sizzle scoring a golden double yesterday in the First Islamic Solidarity Games on a day when Jordan, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Kuwait and Turkey struck their first gold medals.
Kazakhstan continued their domination in swimming when they won the 4x100-meter freestyle ahead of Egypt and Algeria.
That brought Kazakhstan’s leading medal tally to six gold medals, five silvers and four bronzes including the two won yesterday by swimmers Detali and Dimitri in the 200 meters freestyle and 400 meters individual medley respectively.
Muhanad Saifidin won Egypt’s fifth gold medal at the games when he outdueled Iranian Abdul Maz in the fencing event.
Swimmer Mahdi Jadallah had earlier triumphed in the 400 meters individual medley for Egypt finishing ahead of Algeria’s Mahdi Hamam who bagged the silver medal.
Iran captured their fourth gold and Malaysia their third gold of the 11-day Islamic meet yesterday with Saudi Arabia right behind them with two golds after Khalid Al-Eid led a 1-2 finish in equestrian’s show jumping event Sunday night. Kamal Bahamdan, an Olympian like teammate Al-Eid, clinched the silver medal.
Farqi Saeed gave Iran the gold medal in 80 kg category in karate beating Algeria’s Adnan Tariq into silver. Saudi Turki Yahya Bukhari and Muhammad Abdul Rahman of Egypt got bronze medals in the event.
Malaysia struck again in the pool after winning the platform diving gold medal Sunday when Danial swam to victory in the 200 meters freestyle, well in front of Turkey’s Mendan.
Jordan joined the list of gold medalists when Fathi Farouz won the 72 kg category in karate in which Qatar, Azerbaijan, Kuwait and Turkey also recorded their first successes.
Qatari Abdullah Ali Abdullah emerged winner in the 54 kg. Tayem Juwi Han of Azerbaijan bested Iran’s Jasim Fishjay in the under 75 kg while Kuwait’s Jaber Ahmad and Turkey’s Yousif Baeer ruled the over 80 kg and open weight category respectively.
Morocco who claimed their first gold in the 65 kg category clinched the silver in the over 80 kg through Esmail Essa. Getting the bronze were Saudi Abdul Mutalib Barkawi and Egypt’s Salem Abdul Salam. Finishing runner-up to Baeer was Iran’s Mahran Hanam who in turn checked in ahead of Saudi Abdullah Rezkuallah and Senegal’s Abdulwalee Badwi who both took bronze. Another silver fell in Iran’s lap in the under 75 kg through Jasim Fishjay. Baron Karamola of Turkey and Emad Saie of Syria were the bronze medalists.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia and Algeria became the first teams to qualify for the quarterfinal in the football competition.
The host booters trounced Palestine 3-0 to run their record to six points from two matches in Group C in a tie with Algeria who beat Yemen 1-0 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here.
After a scoreless first half, striker Saad Al-Harthi broke into the Palestinian defense after he received a nice cross inside the penalty box and then put the ball to the left hand side of the goalie for the Saudis first goal in the 71st minute. The second goal came in the 81st minute by Muhammad Amin and the third by Nasser Al-Shamrani in the 86th minute. In Group D, Morocco drew 0-0 against Malaysia while Mali downed Chad 4-1 in Group B.
In basketball, Algeria and Chad both crossed the century marks in beating separate opponents. Algeria crushed Tajikistan 143-38 in Group D while Chad overpowered Maldives 117-40 in Group B. Kyrgyzstan topped Sudan in Group A, Kuwait beat Somalia 96-40 and Azerbaijan whipped Yemen in Group C games, while Libya demolished Pakistan 93-45 in Group D.
— Additional input from Ebtihal Mubarak
