07 Aug. 2015 – The first day of the Lebanese Open Clubs Championship has come to an end with great individual performances. This championship is for clubs; once a year this individual sport becomes a team sport where athletes from the same club support each other and give their best for the team. A great motivation that conducted to amazing performances.
This time, our men ran the fastest 100 meters this season and one of the fastest ever with Nour HADID (Army) who finally broke the 10.80 barrier to clock 10.76 on this distance! He couldn’t have done it without his strong opponents Michel ZEINATY (CSJ) who really taught everyone that patience is key! He has been running 11.00, 11.01, 11.02 etc until his hard work has finally paid pushing him far above the 11 second barrier clocking a superb 10.84!
“It was the best race of the season, and sincerely, it was the first time I get stressed that much before a race because of the great adversity on the track. I wouldn’t be able to improve without this great adversity and without all those strong guys especially Michel ZEINATY!” – Said Nour HADID.
“I just came back from a hamstring injury and I knew the race wouldn’t be easy especially with the presence of prominent athletes. Before the start of the race, I decided to put everything behind me and run like it would be my last race; and that’s not only for me but also for my teammates my coach Alice KEYROUZ who were always there for me to support me in every step I made. Thankfully I did very good performance this year. It feels really good beating the 11 seconds bar with such a great time. I want to congratulate all the athletes and especially Nour HADID whom I respect profoundly and my teammate Raphael SAMAHA who despite his injury refused to give up and finished the race!” – Said Michel ZEINATY.
We can notice the mutual respect between these two guys, who are now living by the Olympic Values of Excellence Friendship and Respect and who should be an example for all the athletes. “It is an honor for me to compete along side Nour!” – Added Michel.
Ahmad HAZER (Champions) who delivered an amazing 400 meters in the 4x400m relays at the Individual Championship two weeks ago, came to show everyone how great he is in sprint events! He ran the 100 meters in 11.03 seconds to take 3rd place after ZEINATY. Ahmad is specialized in 110m Hurdles in which he holds the national record.
The second most exciting race on that day in our opinion was the 400m hurdle men. Ali HAZER (Champions) won the race in 55.47 but behind him, a young athlete from CSJ wasn’t far from him! This young man sprinted in the last 100 meters to improve his personal best to 55.80 seconds! His second best was 57.01! Daniel BASSOUS is the man behind this achievement! We can say that Ali HAZER has now a new opponent on this distance!
“The race was very interesting. I can’t say that I was not surprised to see myself so close to Ali, especially in the final 100m and that’s what made me push harder in the last 50m.” – Said Daniel.
Hard work always pays off. “I worked really hard this year. I was confused and upset that my times in the 400m Hurdles were still the same as they were in 2013 up until this week. Although I was in better form in last week’s race, I gave it all in my last race of the season and I am really happy of my performance and that my time dropped this much!” Added BASSOUS.
In Long Jump women, Joy ABOUSLEIMAN (CSJ) did the show alone after being the only girl to jump over 5 meters in this competition. She jumped 5.27 meters to take first place, while after her comes her teammate Joelle FEGHALI with 4.98 meters and in third position Lea OBEID (Champville) jumped 4.92m.
In the 800 meters Hassan KERKALLI (Army) finally delivered a 1:54.47! He was way ahead of everyone else. The Lebanese Army finished day 1 ahead of CSJ with 65.60 points, CSJ in second with 22.18 very close to Champions in third position with 19.99.
In the women’s CSJ is leading with 63.87 ahead of Champville with 53.69 and in third comes the Champions with 19.34 points.
Today, the second day of the Lebanese Championship will surely be as exciting as the first day. But we assure you that the third day is going to be the most exciting!
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