Qatar’s star swimmer Abdulaziz al-Obaidly scooped another gold medal at the GCC Games in Kuwait on Thursday. The Qatari swimmers continued their fine show with al-Obaidly winning the men’s 200m individual medley as his compatriots also won two silver and a bronze medal on Thursday. After four days of completions, Team Qatar has 33 medals including 11 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze medals to stay third on the table. Bahrain lead the table with 17 gold, 15 silver and eight bronze medals followed by hosts Kuwait, who have won 46 medals including 16 gold, 14 silver and 16 bronze medals.Oman, who have won 22 medals including nine gold medals are fourth, while Saudi Arabia are fifth with 31 medals including seven gold medals. United Arab Emirates (UAE) are on the bottom with four gold, six silver and seven bronze medals.
Al-Obaidly, who won men’s 400m individual medley gold on Tuesday, stormed to victory in men’s 200m individual medley final yesterday, clocking 2:08.83. Omer Abouelela, who finished behind al-Obaidly on Tuesday, secured a silver medal for Qatar again after finishing the race in 2:09.20. UAE’s Salem Ghalib took bronze with a time of 2:11.32. Meanwhile, Qatar’s Mohamed Mohamed also continued his medal-winning spree after notching up a silver medal in men’s 100m breaststroke. He completed the race in 1:05.48 to finish behind home swimmer Rashed al-Tarmoom, who won gold with a time of 1:02.81. UAE’s Omar Mohamed claimed bronze medal after clocking 1:09.69. Mohamed also claimed a bronze medal in men’s 50m freestyle, which was won by Kuwait’s Waleed Abdulrazzaq with a time of 23.26. The Qatar swimmer clocked 23.83 as Saudi Arabia’s Yousif Bu Arish clinched silver in 23.62. Meanwhile, Qatar won their third silver medal of the day in men’s 4x200m freestyle relay after finishing behind Kuwait (7:52.94) with a time of 8:01.41. Oman won bronze in the event with a time of 8:06.28. Qatar team consisted of Tamim al-Hamayda, Abdullah al-Ghamri, Mohamed Mahmoud and Omar Hassan. Today, is the final day of swimming events while Qatar volleyball team will also open their campaign with a match against Oman. Ibrahim al-Rumaihi, head of the delegation of the Qatari swimming team, praised the results achieved by the team in the competitions held so far. “Our swimmers have been on the podium in all the races they have participated except for the 200m freestyle race. Most of them are 16 and 17 years old they have a bright future,” he said.“Al-Obaidly succeeded in winning the gold medals in the 400m and 200m medley races, while recording two new Gulf records. The team also won silver medals in relay races. The ambition is to achieve more medals on the last day, especially in the 200m breaststroke, in which the Qatari team has the opportunity to win gold,” he added.Al-Rumaihi explained that for many young Qatari swimmers this is their first GCC event and therefore the medals achieved here is an achievement that reflects the development of the level of Qatari swimming.