TEAM JORDAN’S SUPER SUNDAY

Jordan won its first medals, including gold, at the Asian Beach Games in Vietnam and has guaranteed at least another silver on a Super Sunday for the delegation in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Haidar Al Rasheed clinched the country’s first-ever gold at the event in the -85kg jiu jitsu competition, beating the UAE’s Khalfan Balhol in the final. It completed a brilliant event for the 23-year-old who overcame fighters from the UAE, Iraq and Tajikistan on the way to the final.

In the same weight, Al Rasheed’s teammate Mohammed Bilbaisi, 27, missed out on making it an all-Jordan final with defeat in the semi, but bounced back to win the bronze medal match against Thailand’s Sooknatee Suntra.

Also in jiu jitsu on Sunday night, Basel Fanous secured silver in the -94kg category after losing his final against the UAE’s Feisal Al Ketbi. He reached the final by beating Dovran Myradov of Turkmenistan.

In muay thai, Mohammed Salameh secured at least a silver in the 81kg class by winning his semi-final against Mohammed Faneesh of Lebanon. He will fight for gold against Can Luo of China on Monday.

In one day, Da Nang became Jordan’s most successful ever Asian Beach Games as previously they had only won two silvers and three bronzes in total from four editions.

But it wasn’t such a good day for the handball team who lost their opening group match 2-0 to Chinese Taipei. They next play host nation Vietnam on Monday.