BAHRAIN had mixed fortune on the first day of the 3rd Islamic Solidarity Games in Palembang, Indonesia. The nationals kick-started their campaign in karate with Sarah Al Sabah and Noora Ahmed in action.Sarah won her first fight against her Palestinian opponent 5-0, but lost her next clash to a competitor from Morocco 4-1.
In the same event, Bahrain's Noora lost her first two encounters to an Indonesian participant 0-4 before going down 0-9 to an Azerbaijan opponent to crash out of the tournament.
Being coached by Mohamed Larbi Boumezbeur, the karate team also includes Mustafa Al Shaikh, Bashar Al Sanjar and Mohamed Al Shaikh.
Bahrain is also competing in athletics and taekwondo. The taekwondo team have been training for three days before the competitions start on Saturday.
The taekwondo team is being managed by Tawfeeq Nuwaiser of Jordan who named five of their best martial arts fighters. They are Hamad Al Binkhalil, Hesham Al Hashimi, Fahad Al Bosta, Mohammed Ahmed and Fajar Al Binali, who is due to join the team training in the next few days.
The athletics delegation has also arrived in Palembang and they are due to begin training today.
Meanwhile, Bahrain's delegation attended the Games' opening ceremony.
Bahrain's flag was raised high in the Indonesian city of Palembang. The Bahrain delegation is being headed by Bahrain Olympic Committee member Abdulhakim Al Shino.
The opening ceremony took place at the Jakabaring Sports Complex, with around 1,759 athletes and 624 officials taking part. It was patronised by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and witnessed by high-ranking sports officials from across the Islamic world.
This 10-day event, which concludes on October 1, is being held under the slogan "Unity and Harmony".
There are 13 events that will be competed. The events are athletics, aquatics swimming, archery, badminton, basketball, football, karate, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, volleyball beach, weightlifting and wushu.
The participating nations are Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Indonesia, Guyana, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, the UAE, Bahrain and Malaysia.
