Lebanon Win Gold At Qatar

Posted by Hugh Taylor Dec 10, 2006

Lebanon won their first gold medal at the 15th Asian Games in Qatar yesterday.

Jean Claude Rabbath won Lebanon’s first ever gold medal in athletics with a blinding performance in the finals of the men’s high jump.

Rabbath, who finished eighth in Busan four years ago cleared a season’s best of 2.23metres at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha. Three other competitors cleared that height but Rabbath won the gold because of his better records at earlier heights.

Previously Lebanon have only won gold in weightlifting, bodybuilding and shooting.

China’s junior world champion Huang Haiqiang, the pre-event favourite failed to clear 2.10 metres and finished last of the fifteen finalists.