JEDDAH, 17 April 2005 — The Saudi juggernaut, which had steamrollered its way to a rich mother lode in the past two days, was slowed down by the heavies from Central Asia, leaving them with only one gold for the day.
Then the Kingdom’s soccer players turned in a vintage performance to give the hosts a late boost. And it needed a goal in the extra period to put out Oman’s fight for a place in the semifinals. Saudi Arabia won 2-1, but did not have the match well in the hand for the majority of the game. An 85th minute equalizer and a last-gasp winner in 119th minute sealed Saudi Arabia’s victory.
Oman had gone ahead through Faouzi Bashir in the 11th minute, and then managed to keep off Saudi Arabia, who relentlessly charged the Omani goal. The break came in the 81st minute when star Omani defender Ahmad Mubarak was sent out and the Saudis cashed in on their one-man advantage. Bandar Al-Tamimi got the Saudis on level terms and then Muhammad Amin crashed in the winner.
Earlier, Iran beat Algeria 2-0 to join the elite group of four. Morocco and Syria had already qualified for the semifinals on Friday. With the Central Asian weightlifters in the heavier divisions to the fore, Saudi Arabia were given a slight lift by Ramzi ibn Muhammad Abdullah with a gold in the clean and jerk section of the 94 kg event. He also pocketed the silver in the total and snatch categories. Iraq’s Mohammad Jasim Abood took the gold in the category on total lift, and was also the winner in the snatch, while taking the silver in the clean and jerk. Azerbaijan’s Samadov Alibay was the bronze winner in total and the snatch category, while Libya’s Hamzah Ahmed Abu Ghalia placed third in the clean and jerk.
In the 85 kg. event, the Saudis failed to place. Kyrgyzstan’s U. Moldodosov pocketed two golds in the total lift and clean and jerk, while Azerbaijan’s Hasanov Natig, who landed the snatch gold, came away with the silvers in the other two sections. All three bronze went to Syria’s Abdullah Ibrahim Iskandrani.
Egypt made a clean sweep of the medals in individual table tennis with paddler Ahmad Ali Saleh, showing fine offense and defense, striking the gold. He beat Sayed Lasheen in the all-Egypt final, while another Egyptian Ahmad Nadeem and Iran’s Muhammad Reda were allotted the bronze apiece.
Egypt fencers sustained their domination in the discipline as they walked away with yet another gold. Their saber team outdueled the Iran squad for the gold with the Kingdom and Azerbaijan fencers taking the bronze.
Pakistan were sure of at least coming away with a medal in the tennis event when they eased their way into the final against Indonesia at the King Fahd Sports City in Taif. Pakistan dashed Saudi Arabia’s hopes of making it to the final with a clean 2-0 verdict. The final will be held tomorrow.
Morocco secured a shock win over Algeria 62-58. But the result had no bearing as Algeria had already qualified for the semifinals. Tunisia and Iran, both of who had already booked their last four passage from their group, too battled it out in a match that did not affect their chances, with Tunisia winning 52-44. Azerbaijan made up the quartet, clipping Syria 88-82.
In other basketball action, Saudi Arabia defeated Jordan 59-50; Kuwait thumped Kyrgyzstan 95-73; Pakistan outplayed Palestine 71-64; Chad beat Libya 75-58 and Sudan defeated Yemen 66-56.
In the handball competition, Saudi Arabia advanced to the last eight stage with a comprehensive 31-26 defeat of Bahrain. But strong contenders from Africa, Algeria and Tunisia, too stayed in the fray with equally emphatic victories. Tunisia had a battle in the hands but got the better of Morocco 45-36, while Algeria overcame a gritty Egypt 31-27 in a match that saw fortunes fluctuating. Syria too were the day’s victors when they quelled Jordan 35-27.
Saudi goal ball players kept up the fine run with a clean 16-6 beating of Sudan. In other matches, Iraq outplayed Bahrain 13-4, Iran blanked Lebanon 10-0, Algeria routed Syria 11-1, Jordan stunned Egypt with a close 7-6 decision and Turkey defeated Senegal 10-3.
In volleyball, Saudi Arabia advanced from Group A with a 3-0 drubbing of Azerbaijan. Other winners were Egypt 3, Pakistan 1; Algeria 3, Morocco 1 and Iran 3, Turkmenistan 0.
In water polo, Saudi Arabia and Iran played out a 4-4 tie, while Egypt managed to put one over Kazakhstan 8-7. Kuwait too scraped past Azerbaijan 5-4 on a day of close contests.
— With input from Mahmoud Ahmad and Razan Baker
