FORMER World champions Maryam Yusuf Jamal and Yusuf Saad Kamel are set to lead an 11-strong Bahrain team at the upcoming third Islamic Solidarity Games.
The list of elite athletes was released last night by the Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA).
The Games are scheduled to take place in South Sumatera from September 20.
Maryam will be competing in the women’s 5,000 metres while Kamel will be running in both the men’s 800m and 1,500m.
Both will be looking to make up for their recent disappointments from the IAAF World Championships held in Moscow last month. Maryam withdrew at the very last minute due to an injury, while Kamel failed to qualify for the final of his event.
Several other veteran elite runners are on the team, including Hassan Mahboob, Tareq Mubarak Taher, Belal Mansoor Ali and Mimi Salem Belete.
Mahboob will be running the men’s 10,000m, while Taher will be amongst the heavy favourites in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.
Belal will be running in two events, namely the men’s 1,500m and 800m, while Mimi will be running in the women’s 1,500m.
Best
The remainder of the squad is made up of the best of the kingdom’s young, up-and-coming talents.
They include Ali Khamis who will be running both the men’s 400m and 400m hurdles, Dejene Regassa who will go for gold in both the men’s 3,000m and 5,000m, Mohammed Yousef who will be contesting the men’s triple jump, Genzeb Shumi who will be competing in both the women’s 800m and 1,500m and Shitaye Eshete Mubarak in the women’s 10,000m.
Meanwhile, members of Bahrain’s national youth team have completed their training camp in Bulgaria and are all set to go for gold in this year’s West Asian Youth Championships, which takes place in October.
The team of young Bahrainis returned to the kingdom late Saturday night. They will continue their preparations locally until they depart for the competition site in Amman, Jordan.
BAA board member and national teams manager Mohammed Abdulaziz said he is confident in the athletes’ ability to win a medal both at Indonesia and Jordan.
Abdulaziz said that thanks to the guidance and care given to the athletes by BAA president Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, they are well-prepared for their respective competitions and are all capable of winning medals.