Bahrain yesterday captured their maiden medal at the Fourth Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Andrew Fisher opened Bahrain’s medal account at the Games, racing to second-place finish in the men’s 100m final at Baku Olympic Stadium.
The Bahraini short-distance runner completed the race in 10.16 seconds, just behind his Turkish opponent Ramil Guliev (10.06 secs), who took the gold. Oman’s Barakat Al Harthi (10.36) rounded off the podium after coming third.
Fisher began his medal campaign by topping his heat race in 10.20 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals, in which he clocked 10.22 seconds to reach the gold-medal race later in the day.
Bahrain’s other athletes were less fortunate as Hajer Al Khaldi, Iman Essa, Linus Kiplagat and Aweke Ayalew came close to podium finish, but failed in the last challenge.
Al Khaldi (11.75) and Essa (11.78) both were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the women’s 100m final, while Kiplagat (13:35.53) and Ayalew (13:36.31) could only finish in seventh and eighth places in the men’s 5,000m final.
Yesterday’s action got underway with the men’s shooting trio of Hasan Mohamed, Naser Khalaf and Tammar Al Watt spearheading Bahrain at the skeet qualifying round at Baku Shooting Centre.
The trio, coached by Australian tactician Valeriy Timokhin, were unable to reach the final round.
Today, Bahrain will be looking to build on their medal tally through Manal El Bahraoui and Marta Hirpato, who will both race in the women’s 800m final.
Bahrain will also have high hopes on their short and middle distance runner Adekoya Oluwakemi, who is racing in the women’s 400m final later today.
Ali Khamis and Abbas Abubaker are both with a chance to add to Bahrain’s medal tally in the men’s 400m final.
Other athletes in action today include Andrew Fisher and Yaqoub Salem (men’s 200m heats), Salwa Eid and Edidiong Ofonime (women’s 200m heats) and Noora Jassim (shot put final).
The Games, which continue until Monday, will also see Bahrain wrestler Adam Batirov in action.
Turkey are currently leading the medals table with 43 medals, followed by Azerbaijan (30), Iran (9), Indonesia and Uzbekistan (6 each).