Athlete Yousef Masrahi claims Saudi Arabia’s 1st gold at 19th Asian Games

Saudi athletes Yousef Masrahi and Hussein Al-Hizam holding their medals, a gold in the 400-meters race and a bronze in the pole vault, respectively, that they claimed in 19th Asian Games on Saturday. (Supplied)

• Saudi pole vaulter Hussein Al-Hizam wins first bronze in Asian Games with a jump of 5.65m
• Hamoud Al-Elwani qualifies for long jump finals with 7.46m leap in first group semifinals

HANGZHOU, China: Saudi athlete Yousef Masrahi has claimed the Kingdom’s first gold medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou with victory in the 400-meters final on Saturday.
The Asian record holder won with a time of 45.55 seconds, repeating his victory in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon in 2014 when he won Saudi Arabia’s first gold medal in the same race.
Saturday’s victory marks Masrahi’s third medal in Asian Games. He won his first bronze in the 400-meters in Guangzhou in 2010 before winning gold in Incheon in 2014.
“The support of the Saudi audience was a great incentive for me to achieve the gold medal. I thank my parents for their support. I also thank my national coach Hamdan Al-Bishi, who worked hard to prepare me for this edition for over a year,” Masrahi said following his victory.
He also thanked Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee president, and his deputy Prince Fahd bin Jalawi for their support for Saudi sports.
Saudi pole vaulter Hussein Al-Hizam won his first bronze medal in the Asian Games with a jump of 5.65 meters on Saturday.
Al-Hizam said he is confident his Saudi teammates will win more medals in the remaining days of the Games, being held in Hangzhou in China.
Athletes Raed Al-Jedaani and Faisal Al-Subaiei qualified for the finals of the 1,500-meters race. Al-Jedaani finished first in the semifinals with a time of 3:51 minutes, while Al-Subaiei finished fourth with a time of 3:56 minutes.
Hamoud Al-Elwani qualified for the finals of the long jump with a 7.46-meter jump in the first group semifinals.
Injury forced sprinter Nasser Mahmoud to pull out of the 100 meters semifinals. His teammate Abdullah Abkar finished fourth with a time of 10.21 seconds.
In the 10,000 meters, Tareq Al-Omari finished seventh with a time of 28:46 minutes.
In the hammer throw final, Mohammed Al-Dubaisi finished 10th with a throw of 65.95 meters, while his teammate Mohammed Al-Zayer finished 12th with a distance of 62.5 meters.
Basketball:
The Saudi basketball team defeated the UAE 74-67 in the first group and qualified for the second round after finishing second behind Iran in first group. Iran defeated Kazakhstan 86-60. Each group’s first two teams will qualify in addition to the top four teams that rank third.Asian