DOHA — Hassan Yahya Habeeb was crowned Asia’s fastest man when he sped to victory in the 100-meter dash, and Hussain Taher Al-Saba leapt to the longest distance yesterday as Saudi Arabia reaped a medal harvest at the Asian Games at Khalifa Stadium.
The two gold medals along with Ahmed Faez Bin Marzouq’s bronze in the long jump event put Saudi Arabia well on the way to equaling their haul of seven gold medals in the last Asiad in Busan, South Korea.
With the track and field events starting in earnest, the Saudis have racked up four gold medals, the earlier two coming in bowling events.
On a day when athletes from the Gulf ruled the roost, Habeeb clocked 10.32 seconds in the track and field’s glamour event.
The 22-year-old Habeeb was off to a perfect start in Lane 2 and lunged at the tape just ahead of Japan’s Naoki Tsukahara, who clocked 10.34 seconds, with Thailand’s Wachara Sondee taking bronze with 10.39 seconds. Saudi Yahya Al-Ghahes, running in Lane 8, in the sprint final finished just out of the medals by coming in fourth with 10.52.
The Kingdom burst onto the golden scene early in the day when Saba launched their gold hunt with a super leap.
The gold and bronze medals, courtesy of Al-Saba and Bin Marzouq, came with the former making the only 8 meters jump of the day. His 8.02 meters effort, though well outside the world record of 8.95 meters set by his coach American Mike Powell in 1991, was more than enough to outclass the field. Kuwait’s Saleh Al Hadad got the silver with 7.88 and Bin Marzouq the bronze with 7.85.
Saudi hopes of making seven golds are still alive in the 400 meters hurdles with Bandar Sharhaeli and Asian record holder Hadi Soaan in the fray after the first round heats. High jumper Hashem Iqeebi, however, finished 10th with an effort of 2.10 meters, while Mohammed Al-Salhi and Ali Al-Deraan placed first and fourth in their respective first round heats in the men’s 800 meters.
Meanwhile, in the cycling’s men’s individual pursuit qualifying over a distance of 4,000 meters, Bader Al-Yasin finished 23rd with a time of 45.48 at the Aspire Hall 1. After a promising start against Hong Kong, the Saudi water polo team suffered their second straight setback, this time against Japan 16-6.
The first two periods ended with Japan ahead at 3-1 and 5-2 respectively. Saudi matched up to the Japanese in the third period holding them to 2-2, but were swept away by the Japanese in the fourth 6-1 en route to an easy victory in the preliminary Group B match at the Al-Sadd Aquatic Center.
The Saudi debut in wrestling yesterday was a disappointment with Yasser Fallatah, 24, taking a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Japanese Makoto Sasamoto in the men’s Greco-Roman 60kg preliminary bout at the Aspire Hall 4.
“We lost a chance today of getting a bronze medal. However, we still look forward in getting one of the three medals in the upcoming competitions,” said team coach and member of the Saudi Wrestling Federation Ghazi Al-Abdali.
After the first eight-game series block in the men’s Masters in bowling to determine the stepladder finalists, Hassan Al-Sheikh was third in the standings with total pinfalls of 1,787. His older brother Bader, the most bemedalled Saudi athlete at four, came in 14th at 1,626. The Kingdom’s first four medals came from the bowlers -- golds in men’s doubles and men’s all events and bronzes in trios and team of five.
Meanwhile, Saudi’s handball campaign ended disastrously after they lost the preliminary match against Qatar by forfeiture 10-0. In an apparent breakdown of communication both teams showed up wearing light uniforms. There was no time for Saudis to change and the technical committee awarded the match to the Qataris.
• Host country Qatar won its third and fourth gold medal at the 15th Asian Games with two victories for its bodybuilders yesterday on a day when the focus shifted from what happened on the playing fields to another kind of result: A positive doping test.
• In the men’s under-90kg division Ali Tabrizi Noori won from South Korean Kim Myong Hun and Hassan Al Saka from Syria.
Kamal Abdulsalam Abdulrahman took the gold in the men’s under- 85kg bodybuilding event, while silver went to Bahrain’s Fadhel Husain. South Korean Kang Kyung Won won the bronze. Bahrain also won the silver in the under-80kg competition through Mohamed Sabah Naser Hassan. Gold went to Sitthi Charoenrith from Thailand and bronze to Lee Do Hee from South Korea.Bahraini athletes were also among the medals with Ethiopian-born Maryum Jussuf Jamal winning the women’s 800m and Hasan Mahboob crossing the line first in the men’s 10,000m. The men’s 10,000m looked like a Kenyan trial over the last couple of laps as four Africans competed for the medals, Mahboob sprinting home just ahead of Qatar’s Essa Ismael Rashed with Aadam Ismaeel Isa also taking bronze for Bahrain. Jamal, who comes from the same area of Ethiopia as double Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie, made her move just before the bell and ran the last lap out on her own to win in 2.01.81. Uzbekistan’s Guzel Khubbieva upset Sri Lankan sprint heroine Susanthika Jayasinghe Mannlage, a former Olympic and world medalist in the 200m, to take gold in the women’s 100m. China’s Zhou Chumnxiu won the women’s marathon.
— With input from agencies
