?Ali Monfaredi yesterday (Monday) gave Bahrain its maiden medal at this year’s Asian Beach Games, being held in Da Nang, in Vietnam.
The 23-year-old athlete put on a spirited show to clinch the 77kg gold medal in the jiu jitsu championship after a well-contested battle with Jordan’s Hamzeh Haitham in the final.
Monfaredi, son of Bahrain’s jiu jitsu veteran Reza Monfaredi, started his campaign winning the opening tie against Hansel Terence of the Philippines in the round of 32.
He then moved on to the last-16 round, where he halted Chaitany Babon’s challenge to set up his quarter-final clash with Abdulkarim Zaid of Jordan.
Monfaredi showed significant strength and ability as he pushed aside Zaid to reach the semi-final clash, in which he defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Murtazali Murtazaliev to reach the gold medal tie.
He was congratulated in a phone call right after the final by His Majesty the King’s representative for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Monfaredi also received praise from Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant general secretary and Bahrain Olympic Committee general secretary Abdulrahman Askar, who is presently in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, suffered their first defeat in the beach handball championship, going down 1-2 to Pakistan in Group ‘A’ tie.
Despite having a good start to the match and taking the first quarter 19-18, the Bahrainis’ performance had a major drop in the second period, which saw Pakistan win 21-16.
In the third and deciding quarter, Bahrain put up a good fight but the physical strength and experience of their opponents played a major part in the final score (9-6).
Sayed Shehab Ahmed, who inspired Bahrain to their win over Thailand, was again the top scorer in yesterday’s match with eight goals.
Bahrain, coached by Raed Al Marzooq, were also spearheaded by Jaffer Abbas (5 goals), Belal Bahsam (4), Mahmood Ali, Adam Al Nasheet (2 each), Fahad Jassim (1) and goalkeeper Hussain Al Qaydoom also spearheaded the Bahrain team in yesterday’s match.
The handball championship put Bahrain in a relatively tough Group ‘A’ along with Qatar, Pakistan, India and Thailand. Group ‘B’ features Vietnam, Qatar, Japan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Bahrain will now face India at 6.45am (Bahrain time) in their third and penultimate group stages match. Their fourth and concluding game is scheduled for tomorrow against Qatar.
In bodybuilding, Bahrain’s trio Ali Qassab (162kg), Jassim Marhoon (168kg) and Mohammed Rashid (+168kg) underwent the weigh in session yesterday and will enter the pre-judging today.