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Aspire athletics report

Strong finish rewarded with Gold




Chonburi - After the bronze medal in the 1500 the Aspire middle distance squad picked up a second medal. In a very tactical race Abdullah Ismail Hamed Khalifa proved he can keep his nerves and keep the ace in his sleeve. A gold medal in the 800 meters final, just a four hours after the heats in the morning.

The ninth Thailand Sport Games: the Sammuk Games in Chonburi, a town 80 kilometers form Bangkok, are a brewing pot of activity. Nineteen sports schools are participating in sixteen on different venues. Of course there the major sports swimming, football and athletics but also the typical Thai sports like Muay-Thai and Sepak Takraw are on list.

Acting athletics head coach Gerard Lenting: “ Already we can speak about a very good debut for Aspire athletics at this sports school games”, he said after the third day of competition in track and field. “We are here for the first time in this competition and just with our middle distance team. And this five boys have put Aspire on the map with good running”, Lenting added.

On Tuesday Mukhtar Hassen Abdullar just missed out on the medals. He clocked a 4 minutes and 25.26 seconds over the 1500 meters. “A very nice debut” commented Jamal Abdalla. Abdalla is the Aspire assistant middle distance coach who is in charge during this games. He saw take the third place in his 1500 meters race Mohamed Salih Idris Adem (for boys 18years).
“ Mohammed Salih benefited from our competitions in Europe earlier this summer and now just his experience to get a rostrum spot”, the coach proudly explained.

Even more smiles were there after the heats on Wednesday when both Aspire youngster qualified for the final. Only four hours after their heats they were back on the track for the final. Abobaker Omar Alhaj Madebo ran close to his personal best in the heats (2’06” 18) but was still tired in the final. In the tactical race Abdullah Ismail Hamed Khalifa proved to be a winner. After the first slow lap he kept his spot to have an eye on the early leaders. When the dropped the pace he joined the new leaders following in fourth place with two hundred meters to go. In to a strong head wind Abdullah Ismail waited till the last moment to out sprint everybody: 2’05”13.

On Friday Abobaker Omar Alhaj Madebo will run the 600 meters for 14 year olds in his change to add an other medal for Aspire.