Turkish athlete opens track and field with javelin gold

MERSİN - Anadolu Agency

Fatih Avan, who had also won the gold in the 2009 Pescara Games, made the best throw with 83.84 meters. AA photo

Turkey opened the 2013 Mediterranean Games track and field events with a gold medal, as Fatih Avan won the men’s javelin throw competition in Mersin on June 26.

Avan, who had also won the gold in the 2009 Pescara Games, made the best throw with 83.84 meters. Egypt’s Ihab Abdelrahman won the silver medal with 82.45 meters and the bronze went to Greece’s Spyros Lebesis with 78.53 meters. Avan is the holder of the national javelin throw record with 85.60 meters.

Later at the Nevin Yanıt Sports Complex, Elvan Abeylegesses ran 32:59.30 in the women’s 10,000m final to claim a silver medal behind Algerian Kenza Dahmani who ran 32:42.47. Algeria’s Souad Ait Salem won the bronze with a time of 33:19.34.

In the women’s 200m final, Nimet Karakuş came third with her time of 23.40 seconds, breaking the national Under-23 record. Greek Cypriot athlete Eleni Artymata claimed the title with 23.18, while Italian Libania Grenot won the silver medal with 23.20.

Greece’s Lykourgos Tsakonas won the men’s 200m final with 20.45, ahead of Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev who finished the track in 20.46. Spanish athlete Sergio Ruiz Serrano won the bronze medal with a time of 20.74. In men’s 1500m, Silham Hilali of Morocco broke a Mediterranean Games record with a time of 4:04.06 and won the gold medal. Italian Margherita Gargano won the silver medal with a time of 4:06.71.

Turkey’s Tuğba Koyuncu won the bronze medal in the women’s 1,500m final with a time of 4:06.22.

Greek athlete breaks Games record

Greece’s Konstantinos Douvalidis set a games record with a time of 13.52 and won the gold medal, while French Thomas Martinot Lagarde came second with 13.48 and Algeria’s Othman Hadj Lazib took the third place with 13.61.

Meanwhile, Spanish boxer Jose Linares on June 26 won the gold medal in the men’s boxing 52kg ahead of Italian boxer Picardi. Turkish boxer Erdal İnanlı and Montenegrin Abdelali Daraa won bronze medals.

Algerian boxer Reda Benbaziz won the gold medal in men’s boxing 56kg at the expense of Egypt’s Hesham Abdelaal. Bronze medals went to Turkey’s Mehmet Topcakan and Frenchman Elias Friha.

Algeria’s Abdelhafid Benchabla won the men’s 81kg boxing gold medal while French boxer Abdelkadir Bouhenia took the second place and won the silver. Turkish boxer Avni Yıldırım and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Dzemal Bosnjak won the bronze medals.

Ferhat Pehlivan of Turkey lost to Algeria’s Mohamed Flissi in the men’s 49kg boxing final. The bronze medal went to the Egyptian Ramy el Awadi and Italy’s Manues Cappai.

In wrestling, Turkey’s Ali Eren Demirezen lost to Italy’s Roberto Cammarelle in the men’s +91kg final.
Rıza Yıldırım added another gold medal to the hosts’ tally, with his gold medal in the men’s 96kg freestyle wrestling with a win against his Tunisian rival Rochdi Rhimi.

Another Turkish wrestler, Soner Demirtaş, won the men’s 74kg freestyle wrestling against Egypt’s Abdou Ahmed.

In men’s 60kg freestyle wrestling, Turkish athlete Erhan Bakır claimed the gold medal by defeating Moroccan Hamza Fatah.

Italy continues its domination in the medal tally with 47 gold medals. Host Turkey trails with 29 gold medals, closing in on its best performance of 33 gold medals in 2001 Tunis.