Day 7: Maghreb runners advance as athletics events begin

2008-08-15

Several Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian runners qualified to the next rounds of the athletics competitions, which started Friday.

Mawassi Lahcen in Casablanca, Nazim Fethi in Algiers and Mona Yahia in Tunis contributed to this report – 15/08/08

[Mawassi Lahcen] Moroccan star Hasna Benhassi lived up to expectations on Day 7 in Beijing, qualifying to the semi finals in the women's 800m race.

Sports fans in the Maghreb woke up early Friday (August 15th) to watch the first athletics competitions kick off in Beijing.

Morocco's Hasna Benhassi, who won the silver medal in the women's 800m at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, did not disappoint. Running in the same event, she qualified to the semis by finishing second in Heat 5 with a time of 2:00.51, behind Zulia Calatayud of Cuba's 2:00.34. The next race will take place Saturday and the finals are scheduled for August 18th.

Moroccan runner Hanane Ouhaddou was eliminated from the women's 3,000m steeplechase. She ended in 11th place among 17 runners in the first round race.

In the men's 1,500m eliminations, two of three Moroccan runners managed to qualify to the next round. In Heat 4, Morocco's Mohamed Moustaoui took second place behind Moroccan-born Bahraini Rashid Ramzi. Abdalaati Iguider qualified with a fourth place win in Heat 3, behind Britain's Andy Baddeley. Morocco's Youssef Baba failed to qualify to the next round after finishing in tenth place among the 12 runners in Heat 1.

In another track event Friday, Morocco's Asmae Leghzaoui and Mestawet Tufa of Ethiopia dropped out of the women's 10,000m before completion.

Tunisia's Habiba Ghribi qualified Friday to the final round of the women's 3,000. Ghribi participated in Heat 1 and finished in fifth place with a time of 9:25.50 minutes, thus guaranteeing her appearance in the final round with the third best time.

La Presse quoted Tunisian national athletics advisor Salem Boughattas as voicing confidence that Hatem Ghoula, who will compete in the 20km and 50km, will win a medal for Tunisia. He will be supported by young Hassanine Sebaï, the current African and Arab champion, in the 20km-race. Tunisia's Leila Ben Youssef will also participate in the women's pole vault on Saturday.

Algerians also advanced in track and field events. Algerian runner Tarek Boukensa moves on to the men's 1500m semi-finals after finishing fourth in his heat on Friday. Antar Zerguelaine also advances, after a fifth-place finish in his elimination race. Kamel Boulahfane is out after ending in 11th place.

[Mawassi Lahcen] Morocco's Hanane Ouhaddou (second from left) was eliminated from the women's 3,000m steeplechase after finishing 11th out of 17 runners.

In boxing, the referee decided to suspend the match between Morocco's Hicham Mesbahi and Botswana's Khumiso Ikgopoleng in the fourth round because Mesbahi sustained a wound following a strong blow from his opponent.

At the time the bout was stopped, Hicham Mesbahi was leading his opponent in points by 8 to 3. Tunisian boxer Alaa Shili, however, was eliminated from the quarter-finals in the +57-kg category after losing to Mexico's Arturo Reyes 14-2 by points.

Algerian featherweight (+57kg) boxer Abdelkader Chadi defeated Sailom Adi of Thailand and advanced to the round of eight.

In the women's -78-kg category of judo, Tunisia's Nihel Cheikh Rouhou started her matches successfully, defeating Ecuador's Carmen Chala by ippon in extra time after the match ended in regulation time with a 1-1 draw. She was eliminated in the second round by Korea's Kim Nayoung.

Her fellow Tunisian Anis Chedli lost to Teddy Riner of France in the men's -100kg. After the match, Chedli said he made a serious mistake in the extra time in his stable foot, which Riner took advantage of to play a yoko move.

Swimmer Oussama Mellouli took first place in the third qualifying series of the 1500m men’s freestyle race with a time of 14:47.76 minutes, ahead of China's Yang Sun, who scored a time of 14:48.39 minutes and also qualified to the final round.

Algeria's women's volleyball team lost to Russia in straight sets (25-11, 25-19, 25-10). Algeria's record is currently 0-4, at the bottom of Pool B, with only one match remaining, against Kazakhstan.

In rowing events Friday, Algeria's Chaouki Dries finished sixth in the men's single sculls final (E). Mohamed Ryad Garidi and Ait Daoud Kamel finished 4th in the men's double sculls semi-final.