MENA Sports Wrap: Arab athletes bag more medals at Tokyo World Championships

Arab athletes wrapped up the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with four medals, marking a strong showing despite missing out on gold. In football, Egypt's Pyramids FC shocked Saudi champions Al-Ahli to advance in the FIFA International Cup, while attention is turning to Friday's Saudi Pro League showdown between Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad, promising another fiery clash in the race for the title.

Arab athletes bag home more medals in Tokyo

The 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo have come to an end, with Arab athletes taking home a total of four medals, three of which were won this week.

Bahrain ensured its place on the podium after star athlete Salwa Eid Naser, who took home the bronze medal after finishing the women's 400 metre race with a finishing time of 48.19 seconds.

The Nigerian-born sprinter clocked in a season’s best with her finishing time, finishing behind American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Dominican Maileidy Paulino.

The race was historical for a number of reasons; it was the second time in history that all women in the race finished under 50 seconds, with two finishing under 48.

Following the race, Eid Naser said: "The race was tough and fun at the same time, which I was expecting. I made a lot of sacrifices to get here, with a lot of back and forth, but that comes with the sport, so I’m grateful."

Nasser is now the holder of four World Championship medals, including the 400-metre gold won in Doha in 2019.

Algerian middle-distance runner Djamel Sedjati added a silver medal to his ever-expanding tally after finishing second in the men’s 800 metre race on Saturday.

Saturday’s silver marks Sedjati’s second of its kind in all World Championships he’s competed in, after having won the same medal in Eugene in 2022.

Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyoyi took home gold, while Canada’s Marco Arop won bronze.

Sedjati finished the race with a season’s best of 1:41.90. The Tiaret-born runner is the Olympic bronze medallist from the 2024 Paris Olympics.

To cap off the last Arab tally, Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba clinched a bronze medal in the men’s 400 metre hurdles on Friday.

Samba’s medal marked a joyful event to his 2025 season following struggles with a number of injuries. The Qatari athlete returned to a world podium for the first time since 2019, finishing behind American Rai Benjamin and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos.

In an emotional moment, Samba sunk to his knees in disbelief after a photo finish showed the Qatari edging out Nigeria’s Ezekel Nathaniel to clinch the bronze.

Despite a medal tally of four, this marks the first time in 10 years Arab athletes head home without a gold medal, since the 2015 competition in Beijing. High hopes had been placed on Moroccan steeplechaser Soufiane El Bakkali, who narrowly missed out on a first-place finish earlier in the competition, and Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barsham, who withdrew from the competition due to injury.

Egypt's Pyramids stun Al-Ahli with FIFA International Cup victory

Egypt’s Pyramids FC stunned Saudi outfit Al-Ahli with a 3-1 victory in the FIFA African-Asian Pacific Cup on Tuesday, which sees the New Cairo side progress to the next round of the FIFA International Cup.

Pyramids FC’s victory came courtesy of Congolese player Fiston Mayele, who scored a stunning hat-trick to put the side through.

The Egyptian team’s victory will now see them face either a North or South American in the next stage on 13 December, before potentially meeting French football giants Paris Saint-Germain in the final later in the month.

The FIFA International Cup features club champions from all six FIFA confederations, contested in a knockout format in which the European representative receives a bye to the final.

The competition was first held as recently as 2024.

Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli are the current AFC Asian Champions League champions, while Pyramids FC are the CAF Champions League titleholders.

The Egyptian team had already beaten Auckland City 3-0 to reach the second round of the tournament.

With his hat-trick, Mayele is so far the competition’s leading goal scorer.

All eyes on Al-Nassr v Al-Ittihad clash

One of the Saudi Pro League's hottest clashes takes place this week, with Jeddah side Al-Ittihad hosting Riyadh rivals Al-Nassr on Friday.

Both teams go into the tie on a roll with three wins in three games, with Al-Nassr scoring 12 goals and conceding just one so far in their Saudi Pro League campaign.

Al-Nassr will also benefit from their lethal attack line-up of Cristiano Ronaldo and Joao Felix, the 25-year-old already bagging five goals in three games since his entrance into the Saudi top-flight this summer.

The veteran-freshman partnership has been crucial to Al-Nassr's success so far this season, who lead the table on goal difference, so another win or draw will keep them on top.

Al-Ittihad will be without star striker and captain Karim Benzema, who has been struggling with his hamstring.

Elsewhere, Al-Hilal, who got off to a rocky start to their campaign, beat league table straddlers Al-Akhdoud 3-1, with Marcos Leonardo scoring two and Theo Hernandez getting one.

Al-Taawoun took three points against Al-Khaleej, putting them in third place in the league, but fifth-placed Al-Qadisiyah still have a game in hand and will hope to move up to third place if they win their Saturday night clash against Al-Fateh.

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