A RECORD number of Bahraini athletes will compete in this year's Beijing Summer Olympics, a high-ranking sports official revealed yesterday.
The kingdom's team will comprise 13 men and women taking part in three disciplines, including athletics, swimming and shooting, Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) assistant general secretary Mohammed Abul told the GDN yesterday.
Although the final line-up of participants can only be completed as the Olympics nears, currently nine of the athletes are slated for the athletics track, along with another two wild cards apiece for the swimming and shooting events.
"With this number, it is surely the most participants we are going to take part with," Abul said.
Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) technical manager Lounes Madene said that the kingdom's nine runners who have already booked their slots for Beijing could be joined by a few others trying to meet the entry standards before the qualification period closes on July 23.
The roster of qualified athletes currently includes Maryam Yusuf Jamal, Ruqaya Al Ghasra and Nadia Ejjafini among the women; and Rashid Ramzi, Youssef Saad Kamel, Belal Mansoor Ali, Tareq Mubarak Taher, Adam Ismaeel Khamis and Khalid Kamal for the men. Those still trying to qualify include Kareema Jassim, Hassan Mahboob, and veterans Abdulhak Zakariya and Reyadh Al Mustafa.
National swimming coach Khalid Ahmed added that their federation is in the process of selecting the two participants they will enter as wild cards for the swimming events. He added that the likely pair would be top youngsters Omar Yousef Jassim and Sameera Al Bitar.
Meanwhile, Bahrain Shooting Association manager Mohammed Abdulwahab said last night that they too are to finalise their participating rifle shooters, with three names at present being considered. Bahraini shooter Hassan Mohammed earlier this month took part in a Skeet Shooting competition at the Beijing Shooting Range, as part of a series of test events for different sports held prior to the Olympics. Mohammed however is not among the trio in the running for the final Beijing slots.
During the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, 10 Bahraini athletes took part, including six for athletics, two in swimming, and one each in shooting and sailing. A few of them will be returning for another attempt at winning the kingdom's first-ever Olympic medal, such as Ruqaya, Ramzi, Youssef, and Sameera.
Abul claimed that Bahrain's top hope of clinching a medal is Maryam, who is the reigning world champion of the women's 1,500m event. "Maryam is 100 per cent our best chance; she is a genius on the track. She is also the nicest person you can meet, and she is so polite. She is just fantastic, and I believe she can do it for Bahrain," said Abul, who has been to every Summer Olympics between 1976 in Montreal and 1996 in Atlanta.
Apart from Bahrain's participating athletes, the national delegation in Beijing will also include some of the top sports officials in the kingdom. Set to be present are BOC president Shaikh Isa bin Rashid Al Khalifa, General Organisation for Youth and Sports president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, and BAA president Shaikh Talal bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, to name a few.
The Beijing Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place between August 8 and 24 later this year. There will be approximately 10,500 athletes participating in 302 events of 28 sports.
