2.17 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

UAE's golden girl Desalegn shatters records at Asian Athletic Championships

UAE's Betlhem Belayneh Desalegn on the podium after winning the 5,000 metres at the Asian Athletic Championships in Pune, India on Sunday. (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Sports Correspondent

The UAE’s Betlhem Belayneh Desalegn won a double gold medal and set a new meet record at the 20th Asian Athletics Championships that concluded at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, India, on Sunday.

Desalegn, who won the UAE’s first gold in the women’s 1,500 metres on Friday, ran the 5,000m in 15min 12.84sec to eclipse the previous meeting best by 10 seconds.

Desalegn’s time in Pune also smashed the UAE national record of 16:31 set by Alia Saeed, who this time was fourth coming in at 15:45.55.

Desalegn was given the 'Athlete of the Meet' award for the five-day competition.
 
The UAE completed the meet with three medals, with a silver in the 10,000 metres for team mate Alia Saeed.

The two medal-winning UAE athletes are next scheduled to travel to Stockholm Sweden via Dubai on Monday.

They will participate in a few competitions in Europe on July 13 and July 20-29 before proceeding to Moscow for next month’s World Championships. Monte Carlo is also slated as one of the competitions.

Desalegn will be competing again in 1,500m and 5,000m and Alia Saeed in 5,000m and 10,000m. 

"We are hoping to have Saeed qualify for 5,000m and /or 10,000m  for the World Championships. The athletes will return after the World Championships to  Barcelona Spain on  August 16 till September 20 for training.  They will thereafter be taking part in the Islamic games in Jakarta Indonesia from September 22 to October 2," UAE Athletic Federation president Ahmad Al Kamali.

“Everything is going as per plans and I cannot be more pleased than this. We will now wait patiently for many more such medals from these two girls,” he added.