CYCLING – Bahrain's Mohammed Hassan Jawad and Abdulaziz Al Hamri won a golden double in the Arab Road Cycling Championships and Para Cycling 2026, held in Damascus, Syria.
Jawad secured gold in the junior men’s road race after completing the event’s 88-kilometre distance in two hours seven minutes and 38 seconds. He triumphed by a narrow margin of just two seconds, beating out the UAE’s Saif Alghawi. Fahad Bazian of Jordan came third in 2:09:12, beating out Bahrain’s Al Hamri for the final podium step. Al Hamri was classified with the same time.
A total of 24 riders competed in the road race.
Meanwhile, Al Hamri secured his gold medal in the junior men’s individual time trial, which featured a 25km course.
The Bahraini youngsters secured first place with a time of 25:33.607, winning comfortably ahead of the rest of the field, which was led by the UAE’s Alghawi who was once again the silver-medallist in 26:17.409. Mohammed Ghassan Qadmani of Syria was third in 27:01.951, while Jawad finished fourth in 27:09.770.
The two riders received a hero’s welcome yesterday upon their return to the kingdom from Damascus along with officials from Bahrain’s cycling national team.
They were received at Bahrain International Airport by Bahrain Cycling Association president Shaikh Dr Khalid bin Hamad bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, who expressed his great happiness and pride in the pair’s outstanding achievements.
Shaikh Dr Khalid dedicated the two gold medals to Bahrain’s wise leadership and emphasised that both Jawad and Al Hamri are produced of the Khalid bin Hamad Golden Generation initiative.