Saudi Arabia finished top with 24 medals as the 12th Gulf Athletics Championship came to a close in Qatif, Friday. The Kingdom won 12 gold medals in the three-day event. Qatar, meanwhile, toped the medals table at the 5th Gulf Athletics Championship for Juniors. The Qatari delegation won 11 golds out of its total of 14 medals. The first Saudi gold Friday came in the 100m relay race. The United Arab Emirates took the silver, while Oman finished third. In the final of the half-marathon, Saudi Ibrahim Khalifah clinched the gold in a time of 1.11min, about five minutes ahead of his Qatari rival Saif Al-Rashi. Nasser Al-Motarn of Saudi Arabia took the bronze. In 200m, the UAE's Omar Al-Salifah clinched the gold medal after edging Saudi Yasser Al-Nashri. Thamer Kamal of Qatar won the 1,500m gold, while Omar Al-Rashedi of Kuwait took the silver and Emad Noor of Saudi Arabia the bronze. In 5,000m, Saudi Hussain Al-Yami overcame stiff challenge from Qatar's James Cori to clinch the gold in a time of 14.10sec. Qatar's Philips Kaypour bagged the bronze medal. The last gold medal of the day was clinched by Saudi Hashim Al-Oqbi in the high jump competition. Salem Bakhait of Bahrain came second, while Qatar's Mu'taz Barsham finished third. The Saudi teams had also stolen the show on the second day of the event Thursday. Saudi Arabia started the day with 18 medals – eight gold, four silver and six bronze. The Kingdom's athletes also won gold medals in discuss throw and 4x100m relay race. __
