Egypt’s Ihab AbdelRahman El Sayed has won the country’s first ever World Athletics Championships medal, after winning a silver in the Javelin Throw at the 15th IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.
El Sayed, 26, managed to achieve a throw of 88.99 meters on his second attempt, scoring almost four meters less than Kenya’s gold medalist Julius Yego who reached 92.72 meters on his third attempt.
El Sayed, who had qualified for hte finals after finishing eigth in the semi-finals with a 82.85 meter throw, was one of Egypt’s three-member delegation to the IAAF World Championships in Beijing. Mostafa Elgamal finished seventh in the Hammer Throw final, while Mostafa Amr finished 18th out of 28 athletes in the Shot Put competition.
Ahead of the finals, El Sayed promised to do his best to win a medal for Egypt and to break his own record. While El Sayed fell short of his personal best record of 89.21 meters, he made Egyptians proud by winning the silver medal.
Today’s victory by El Sayed marks Egypt’s first ever World Athletics Championships medal. The athletes will be among Egypt’s delegation which will compete at next year’s Olympics in Rio.