Dubai: The UAE’s Betlhem Belayneh Desalegn concluded her awesome run with a second gold medal and 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 last Friday, ran the 5,000m in 15min 12.84sec to beat the previous meeting best by 10 seconds. That mark was set by Tejitu Daba Chalchis, of Bahrain, who had to settle for bronze yesterday. Another Bahraini, Shitaye Eshete Habtegebre, who had claimed gold in the 10,000 metres last week, took silver.
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.
For her double gold showing, Desalegn was given the “Athlete of the Meet” award for the five-day competition.
“This is such a major day in my life as an athlete. I am proud to dedicate my medals to the people of the UAE and to all those who have believed in me during the past few years. Now that I have this confidence, I can sense I can go ahead on the international stage and compete against the best,” Desalegn told Gulf News after the presentation.
Patience rewarded
The UAE completed the meet with three medals, with a silver in the 10,000 metres for Saeed adding to Desalegn’s efforts.
“Our patience has finally paid off,” Ahmad Al Kamali, IAAF Council Member and President of the UAE Athletics Federation (UAE AF) told Gulf News from India.
“We started small with our focus on the future and today, after six years of hard work from everyone concerned, we have reached this stage of winning medals in Asia.”
Meanwhile, Saud Abdul Karim failed to qualify for the final of the men’s 400m hurdles after he finished fourth in the third heat in a time of 52.26s.
China finished the five-day meet at the top of the medals table with 15 golds, six silvers and five bronze medals, followed by Bahrain and Japan in second and third respectively.
The two medal-winning UAE athletes are next scheduled to travel to Sweden via Dubai to participate in a couple of meetings in Europe before proceeding to Moscow for next month’s World Championships.
“Everything is going as per plans and I cannot be more pleased than this,” Al Kamali said. “We will now wait patiently for many more such medals from these two girls.”