Betlhem Belayneh defends Asian 1500m title in Wuhan

Denzil Pinto 05:29 04/06/2015
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  • Asian champ: Betlhem Belayneh.

    The UAE’s Betlhem Belayneh booked her place at August’s World Championships after defending her Asian 1,500m title in Wuhan, China on Wednesday.

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    The 23-year-old did enough to pip home favourite Zhao Ying by clocking 4min 29.39sec with the Chinese managing 4min 29.40sec.

    Japan’s Iino Maya finished third in a time of 4min 32.90sec. Belayneh’s victory means she is the first Emirati to qualify for this year’s Worlds to be held in Beijing, China between August 22-30.

    UAE Athletics Federation president Ahmad Al Kamali was pleased with Belayneh’s display.

    “It was a very good performance by Betty. She wasn’t in good shape in the last 18 months but she has done considerably well and ran a very good race," he said.

    Al Kamali was pleased with Belayneh’s (l) display.

    “I saw her race and she ran very fast. This will give her a big boost and she can take confidence from the race as she now gets ready for the World Championships.

    “The main target for us is to see her qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. We will continue working hard to achieve this.”

    Belayneh will be joined by teammate Alia Saeed for today’s 5,000m and Al Kamali believes there is a strong chance the latter too will qualify for August’s event.

    “Alia is a very strong runner and she has been doing really good so far in training. Even if she doesn’t do well in the 5,000m, she has the 10,000m on Saturday which is one of her strong events. So she if works hard, she can also qualify by finishing first.”

    After the Asian meet, Belayneh and Saeed will head back to Spain to continue their training sessions. Al Kamali said: “They will travel back to Spain and continue to train. There are some Diamond League meets that are coming up this season and other events that should provide some good competition for them.”

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