AUS swimmers excel at First World Inter-Universities Championships

Seventy-four athletes from AUS participated in the First World Inter-Universities Championships, held in Rome, Italy from November 12-15. More than 1,800 athletes representing 55 universities from 24 countries competed for supremacy in various sports, displaying their extraordinary talents.

The AUS men and women athletes put on spectacular performances in various sports disciplines in the highly competitive events. AUS teams participated in men's and women's basketball, volleyball, swimming, table tennis and men's soccer.

AUS swimmers lifted the swimming crown and ruled the pool in Rome overcoming some stiff competition from nine renowned universities with highly talented swimmers. AUS men and women swimmers together achieved five gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals to be declared the overall champions at the tournament.

Talmir Ishmukhametov of the AUS men's swimming team distinguished himself by winning two gold and two silver medals followed by Ahmed Eladel with one gold, three silver and one bronze, while Taher Arafa won one gold and two silver medals. Amr Mohamed won gold in freestyle and silver in medley relays. In the men's 4x50 meter freestyle relay AUS swimmers thrilled the spectators with a photo finish and clinched gold. They won silver in the 4x50 meter medley relay.

AUS women swimmers including Danya Khafaga, Cyndi Faber, Razan Al Khamis, Roseanne Aqel and Fatemah Habib won bronze in both the freestyle and medley. Razan Al Khamis and Danya Khafaga won bronze medals in 50 meter freestyle and 50 meter butterfly respectively.

In the table tennis competition, the AUS men's and women's players were placed with reputed national-level players from the Czech Republic and China but fought well to achieve second place. Mihails Balonuskovs and Ahmad Abdelhadi represented AUS in the men's category while Shailee Vipul Kothari and Shahdan Barakat played in the women's category. AUS won 4 silver medals in singles & doubles together in this competition.

AUS athletes departed Italy with an overall medal tally of 28 including 5 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze medals.

Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Dean of Students, congratulated the athletes on their return and appreciated their valuable contributions. Dr. Al Shehhi pledged her support and assistance to the AUS athletes in fulfilling their athletic goals along with their studies and thanked them for the effort and dedication in keeping the AUS flag flying in the international sports arena.

The AUS team was accompanied by Dr. Mohamed Helal, Director of Student Athletics and Recreation, along with several coaches in the various sports disciplines.