Lebanese driver Roger Feghali continued his dominance of the Lebanon International Rally, the fourth stage of the Middle East Rally Championship, after winning his title for the nineteenth time in its history, thus enhancing his record, riding a Toyota GR Yaris.
Feghali covered the distance of the only asphalt race in the regional championship, amounting to 678.29 km, of which 197.91 km were the length of the 11 special speed stages, with a time of 1:52.07 hours, in front of his compatriots Basil Abu Hamdan, riding a “Skoda Fabia RS”, and Elias Al-Dahni, also riding a “Skoda Fabia RS”, in second and third places, respectively.
The race was attended by Emirati President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Mohammed bin Sulayem, who has previously won the Lebanese race title four times as a driver.
Saudi Hamza Bakhshab was supposed to participate in the race, but he did not attend, and Qatari Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah was forced to withdraw for special reasons, while Qatari Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, who won the Lebanese title twice previously, did not participate.
The Lebanese Karl Rizk came fourth on board the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10, and his compatriot Tareq Younis came fifth on board the Skoda Fabia. The banner participation was the Lebanese driver Raya Dagher, who came sixth on board the Renault Clio.
The best result for non-Lebanese was for Jordanian Shaker Jouhan, who came tenth aboard a Mitsubishi Lancer, his compatriot Sami Fleifel came in fourteenth place aboard a Mitsubishi Lancer, and Omani Zakaria Al Amri came in fifteenth place aboard a Subaru Impreza.
Algerian Djamel Sjati won the men's 800-meter race, while Brazilian Alison dos Santos, the world record holder, won the men's 400-meter hurdles race on the closing night of the first edition of the World Athletics Championships (Ultimate) on Sunday.
Algerian Sjati was able to overtake Canadian Marco Arup, the 2023 world champion, in the final steps to win the men's 800m race with a time of one minute and 41.91 seconds. Arup reached the finish line with a time of one minute and 42.28 seconds, while Kenyan Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi finished third with a time of (one minute and 42.44 seconds).
After setting a world record two weeks ago, Brazilian Dos Santos recorded a time of 45.98 seconds, surpassing his rivals, American Ray Benjamin, who recorded a time of (46.40 seconds), and Norwegian Carsten Warholm, the previous record holder (46.78 seconds). American Jasmine Jones also won the women's race with a time of 52.45 seconds.
Romesh Pathiraj, who came from Sri Lanka, scored 91.09 meters to win the men's javelin title, nearly five meters ahead of his nearest competitor.
Ethiopian runner Lekena Amebaw won the women's 5000m race with a time of 14 minutes and 30.36 seconds.
It is noteworthy that the value of the prizes for the first edition of the World Athletics Championship (Ultimate) amounts to 10 million dollars, which is the highest in the history of this sport. More than 60,000 fans attended over the three sold-out days in Budapest.
Romanian Razvan Lucescu, coach of the Qatari Al-Sadd team, confirmed his team's readiness to face Iranian independence, on Monday, in the first round of the league stage for the Western Region in the AFC Champions League for elite football for the 2026-2027 season.
Lucescu said, during the press conference preceding the match that will be held in Basra, Iraq, that the Asian Championship represents a different challenge from the local competitions, pointing out the strength of the Esteghlal team and the distinguished players it has.
He added: “It is a new tournament and different from the local league, and Esteghlal is a strong team with good players, so we must focus from the beginning of the match and make every effort to come out with a positive result.”
The Al Sadd coach stressed the need to enter the match with full focus, saying: “Our focus must be 100 percent on the field. We have some injured players who remained in Doha, but all the players who are with us in Basra are fully prepared to play the match.”
Lucescu expressed his happiness with the warm reception that the Al-Sadd delegation received in the Iraqi city of Basra, thanking those responsible for receiving the team.
He said: “I am very happy with the warm reception we received in Basra, and I thank everyone for this hospitality, and we are very grateful for that.”
The Romanian coach confirmed that his team realizes the difficulty of the task facing Al-Istiklal, stressing the importance of dealing with each match separately and not thinking about what comes after it.
He continued: “A strong confrontation awaits us against Esteghlal, and we must focus on each match at its time, and give our best in order to achieve what we seek.”
For his part, Pedro Miguel, Al Sadd player, stressed the importance of good preparation for the confrontation, pointing out that the AFC Champions League matches for the elite do not know easy confrontations.
Miguel said: “There is no easy match in the AFC Champions League for the elite, so we must be fully prepared.”
He added: “We will give our best in order to achieve victory and collect three points, so that Al Sadd will have a distinguished start in the tournament this season.”
