FANOUS SECOND IN AQABA TRIATHLON

Jordan’s Olympian Lawrence Fanous has finished second in the ASTC West Asian Triathlon and Duathlon’s Elite Men’s category held at the Ayla Oasis in Aqaba.

Fanous, 31, the first Jordanian to compete at an Olympic Games in Rio this summer, came in second behind Slovenia’s rising triathlete star Domen Dornik, 25, with third also going to Slovenia in the shape of international newcomer Nik Kojc, 20.

In the women’s event, Spain’s Zurine Rodriguez, 34, comfortably won the elite women’s section followed by Sameera Al Bitar, 26, representing Bahrain in second and Syria’s Wessal Saloukha, in third.

Fanous’s finish saw him take the West Asian (Arab) section followed by Mohammed Al Sabbagh, of Syria, and Jamie Price, of Bahrain.

Al Bitar took the women’s West Asian (Arab) category followed by Saloukha in second and Tunisia’s Ons Lajali in third.

In the Duathlon, it was a clean sweep for Iran with Zahra Nafchi, Zohreh Afkham and Sanaz Kodeini taking the top three places respectively in the Elite Women.

In the Elite Men, Moussa Kurich took the honours for Bahrain with Dornik having enough energy to compete again and take second while Salman Taymori, of Iran, took third.

The event was hosted and sponsored by Ayla and the awards ceremony enjoyed a royal flavour, with HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, President of the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC), presenting the awards.

He was also joined by Asian Triathlon Confederation President, Justin Sukwon Park; Afro/Arab Triathlon Confederation President, Ahmad Nasser; and JOC Secretary General, Nasser Majali.

The event welcomed 175 athletes from across the world competing for a share of the 10,000 JD prize money.