INCHEON, South Korea // Alia Saeed ran a personal best to win the UAE’s first gold medal at the Asian Games in the women’s 10,000 metres yesterday.
Saeed, 20, led a breakaway trio with five laps to go at Incheon’s Asiad Main Stadium, comfortably holding off China’s Ding Changgin and Ayumi Hagiwara of Japan to claim gold.
Her winning time of 31 minutes, 51.86 seconds was the fastest of her career – shaving nearly 50 seconds off the time she ran to win silver last year at the Asian Athletics Championships – and she will go into Thursday’s 5,000m full of confidence.
“This is the most awesome day of my life. I am so, so happy to have two achievements on a single day,” she said. “I have won my first-ever Asian gold medal, and to do this with a personal best time is just so amazing.”
The UAE has a strong chance of at least one more gold on the track with Bethlem Desaleyn also running in the 1,500m and 5,000m.
Saeed became the first UAE female to win gold at the Asian Athletics Championships, when she won both disciplines last year in India. Saeed’s was the second medal for the UAE at these Asian Games as Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook Al Maktoum won the bronze medal in the double trap shooting event on Thursday.
Speaking to The National moments after the presentation ceremony for Saeed, Ahmad Al Kamali, president of the UAE Athletic Federation, said: “I am very happy we have won this gold medal and the fact that [Alia Saeed] has now qualified to the [2016] Olympics – that is very important for us. I dedicate this win to the President of the UAE, the Vice President and Sheikha Fatima for their continued support for athletics in the country.”
Al Kamali said the gold medal was the culmination of years of work.
“We are extremely proud with this performance,” he said. “As the president of the federation, I follow the progress of every one our athletes. I know their standards, their capabilities and follow their performances daily. It is no surprise to me that we got this first medal. Hopefully, it will not be the last either. It’s a great achievement for us to have someone we can call Asia’s No 1.”
Elsewhere for the UAE yesterday, Saud Abdul Kareem reached the semi-finals of the men’s 400m but finished seventh and missed out on the final.
Cyclist Ahmed Al Mansoori finished 15th in the men’s individual time trial road race held over 42km at the Songdo Road Race Course. Yousif Mirza is among the favourites in the men’s road race today.
Action in the men’s trios bowling will resume at the Anyang Hogye Gymnasium today with the UAE teams further down the field at the end of the first three games.
Mahmoud Al Attar, Mohammed Al Marzouqi and Hareb Al Mansouri have a combined pin-fall of 1,718 to occupy the 16th position, while further down in 22nd position is the second UAE trio of Hussain Al Suwaidi, Naif Oqab and Shaker Ali Hassan with a combined total of 1,652.
Bowlers will have to bowl another three games with the top three finishers being awarded medals. Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore are in the fray occupying the top four positions.
There was no change in positions of the three sailors from the UAE on the fourth day of sailing at the Wangsan Sailing Marina.
At the end of 10 races, Salama Adnan Al Mansoori is in 10th place with 79 points in the women’s Optimist class, while Mohammed Al Hammadi continued in eighth overall in the men’s Optimist class. The third sailor Hamad Al Hammadi is also 10th after 10 races in the men’s Laser class.
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