16 December 2011
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Gretta Taslakian picked up a disappointing silver medal in the women’s 100-meter event Thursday at the Pan Arab Games in Doha while Lebanon’s women’s basketball team thrashed Somalia 87-38.
Taslakian came second behind Dana Abdul-Razzaq of Iraq who ran a season’s best 11:88, a time that Taslakian has beaten before. The Inter-Lebanon sprinter won gold at both the 100 and 200 meters in the Arab Games four years ago in Cairo and will have to recollect before her 200-meter campaign begins Saturday.
Nisreen Dindan scored 24 points as she led Lebanon to yet another win in the basketball event, securing the Cedars a medal regardless of their result against Qatar Monday, when they will look to secure Lebanon’s first gold medal of the Arab Games.
Lebanon dominated throughout, never letting the Somalis score more than 12 points in a quarter.
The first half saw Lebanon concentrate on defense, perhaps sometimes to their detriment of their attack, forcing Somalia to throw up tough shots before running out on the fast break to convert easy baskets.
Lebanon took the first quarter 18-10 before extending their lead further by another six points as the two sides went into half time at 36-22.
In the second half, Lebanon tore through Somalia, scoring easily at one end and sowing up the paint at the other, conceding only 16 points in the entire second half, closing the game out at 87-38.
The result gives Lebanon four wins from four games and puts them in pole position to earn the gold medal with only one game left of the competition, ahead of Egypt and Jordan.
In the Arab Games overall, Egypt continue to run away at the top of the medals table bagging an incredible 110 medals, including 47 gold medals, with only eight days still left to go in the competition.
Copyright The Daily Star 2011.
