# 1998 Arab Junior Athletics Championships

The 1998 Arab Junior Athletics Championships was the eighth edition of the international athletics competition for under-20 athletes from Arab countries. It took place in Damascus, Syria – the second time the city hosted the tournament, and a fifth hosting for Syria. Damascus also hosted the senior Arab women's championships that year. A total of 41 athletics events were contested, 22 for men and 19 for women. Morocco, a regional power in the sport, did not send a team to the meeting.
The women's 10,000 metres was dropped from the programme; the 3000 metres was restored to partner the new 5000 metres race, in line with the changes at the 1996 World Junior Championships in Athletics. Due to technical limitations, performances in track races were timed to the tenth of a second, rather than the international standard to one hundredth of a second.
Tunisia topped the medal table with thirteen gold medals – all but one of them from the women's competition. Runners-up Qatar took nine gold medals but success was limited to the men's events. Algeria placed third with eight gold medals.
In the men's competition, Fawzi Al-Shammari completed a 200/400 m sprint double – a feat he would repeat at the 2003 Asian Athletics Championships. The long jump champion Hussein Al-Sabee was a global finalist the following year and had won three consecutive Asian titles five years later. Qatari gold medallists Rashid Shafi Al-Dosari (discus) and Ahmad Hassan Moussa (decathlon) would also become Asian champions.
On the women's side Atawef Hamrouni took a 100/200 m sprint double and won senior Arab sprint titles later in her career. The 5000 m champion Souad Aït Salem was the most prominent female athlete to emerge – she would win Arab, African and Mediterranean long-distance titles in the following years. High jump winner Sarah Bouaoudia won that title and the heptathlon title at the 2004 Pan Arab Games.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Khalid Yousef Al-Obaidli (QAT) | 10.3 =CR | Saad Faraj Al-Shahwani (QAT) | 10.5 | Akram Bensmira (ALG) | 10.6 |
| 200 metres | Fawzi Al-Shammari (KUW) | 21.0 =CR | Akram Bensmira (ALG) | 21.5 | Saad Faraj Al-Shahwani (QAT) | 21.7 |
| 400 metres | Fawzi Al-Shammari (KUW) | 45.7 CR | Hamdan Al-Bishi (KSA) | 46.2 | Amin Gomaa Badawi (EGY) | 47.4 |
| 800 metres | Abdu Ibrahim Yousef (QAT) | 1:52.5 | Othman Mohammed Othman (KSA) | 1:52.7 | Mohammed Khalif Al-Azemi (KUW) | 1:53.1 |
| 1500 metres | Youcef Jabab (ALG) | 3:55.7 | Nacer Zein (ALG) | 3:55.8 | Abu Bakr Rahman (QAT) | 3:56.4 |
| 5000 metres | Abdulaziz Rahman (SUD) | 15:03.2 | Abdulrahman Hussain (QAT) | 15:05.3 | Ahmed Aïssaoui (TUN) | 15:10.4 |
| 10,000 metres | Abdulaziz Abdulrahman (YEM) | 31:24.9 | Abdulaziz Rahman (SUD) | 31:25.5 | Ahmed Aïssaoui (TUN) | 31:36.9 |
| 110 m hurdles | Badr Saeed Al-Shoumari (KSA) | 14.4 | Bassem Sami Francis (EGY) | 15.0 | Nassim Meziane Ibrahimi (QAT) | 15.0 |
| 400 m hurdles | Issa Hassan (QAT) | 51.5 | Hani Mourhej (SYR) | 51.6 | Tahar Ghozali (ALG) | 52.1 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase | Saeed Moursi (QAT) | 9:16.8 | Faisal Rabi Al-Nahdi (KSA) | 9:21.0 | Mouhrez Manaa (TUN) | 9:25.9 |
| 4×100 m relay | Qatar (QAT) | 40.1 CR | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 41.5 | Kuwait (KUW) | 41.6 |
| 4×400 m relay | Kuwait (KUW) | 3:14.1 | Algeria (ALG) | 3:14.7 | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 3:15.1 |
| 10,000 m walk | Yasser Aboud (SYR) | 45:40 | Sofiène Azouzi (TUN) | 47:10 | Issa Barsham (QAT) | 48:48 |
| High jump | Mustafa Abdel Jalil Hassanine (EGY) | 2.10 m | Omar Al-Fadak (QAT) | 2.04 m | Ahmed Salmain (QAT) | 2.01 m |
| Pole vault | Béchir Zaghouani (TUN) | 5.00 m | Walid Abu Nasser (EGY) | 4.20 m | Mohammed Bakfalouri (SYR) | 4.10 m |
| Long jump | Hussein Al-Sabee (KSA) | 7.41 m | Hawari Ali (QAT) | 7.23 m | Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Walid (QAT) | 7.23 m |
| Triple jump | Mohammed Hamdi Awadh (QAT) | 15.97 m CR | Ibrahim Mohamedin (QAT) | 15.87 m | Mohammed Adam Mohammed (KSA) | 15.40 m |
| Shot put | Ahmed Hassan Gholoum (KUW) | 16.25 m CR | Mohamed Abdelatif Abu Nasr (EGY) | 16.16 m | Ibrahim Moussa (QAT) | 16.01 m |
| Discus throw | Rashid Shafi Al-Dosari (QAT) | 50.65 m CR | Waeel Moursi (QAT) | 49.43 m | Walid Boudaoui (ALG) | 46.57 m |
| Hammer throw | Nabil Amroune (ALG) | 59.12 m | Saber Souid (TUN) | 58.09 m | Ahmed Rida Mohamed Abdallah (EGY) | 56.30 m |
| Javelin throw | Ahmed Hamdan (QAT) | 65.47 m | Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Khalifa (QAT) | 61.44 m | Ali Sawi (EGY) | 57.16 m |
| Decathlon | Ahmad Hassan Moussa (QAT) | 6767 pts CR | Amine Hafed (ALG) | 6268 pts | Mustafa Taha Hussein (EGY) | 6177 pts |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres | Awatef Hamrouni (TUN) | 12.2 | Sarah Arrous (ALG) | 12.4 | Hamida Hassan (ALG) | 12.6 |
| 200 metres | Awatef Hamrouni (TUN) | 24.7 CR | Houria Moussa (ALG) | 25.2 | Sarah Arrous (ALG) | 25.4 |
| 400 metres | Awatef Ben Hassine (TUN) | 57.9 | Manel Mohsni (TUN) | 58.7 | Diala Al-Chabi (LIB) | 59.7 |
| 800 metres | Khadija Touati (ALG) | 2:12.7 | Abok Choli (SUD) | 2:15.9 | Ahlam Al-Wardi (SYR) | 2:18.1 |
| 1500 metres | Khadija Touati (ALG) | 4:49.2 | Abok Choli (SUD) | 4:50.0 | Souad Aït Salem (ALG) | 4:52.9 |
| 3000 metres | Hana Chaouach (TUN) | 9:58.1 | Walida Suleiman (TUN) | 10:09.8 | Fouzia Zoutat (ALG) | 10:15.8 |
| 5000 metres | Souad Aït Salem (ALG) | 17:32.1 CR | Hana Chaouach (TUN) | 17:42.4 | Walida Suleiman (TUN) | 18:08.2 |
| 100 m hurdles | Naïma Bentahar (ALG) | 14.2 CR | Imène Chokeiri (TUN) | 14.8 | Maha Mohamed Mohamed (EGY) | 15.7 |
| 400 m hurdles | Imène Chatbri (TUN) | 64.0 | Maha Mohamed Mohamed (EGY) | 68.2 | Wallada Kharboutli (SYR) | 71.1 |
| 4×100 m relay | Algeria (ALG) | 49.0 | Syria (SYR) | 52.7 | Jordan (JOR) | 54.7 |
| 4×400 m relay | Tunisia (TUN) | 3:53.2 CR | Syria (SYR) | 4:13.0 | Jordan (JOR) | 4:32.7 |
| 5000 m walk | Rania Hammami (TUN) | 26:11.4 | Faiza Azouzi (ALG) | 26:22.3 | Dounia Mimouni (ALG) | 26:47.6 |
| High jump | Sarah Bouaoudia (ALG) | 1.64 m | Sameh Drid (TUN) | 1.61 m | Rim Abdullah (SYR) | 1.61 m |
| Long jump | Monia Jelassi (TUN) | 5.57 m | Sarah Bouaoudia (ALG) | 5.53 m | Hamida Benhocine (ALG) | 5.27 m |
| Triple jump | Monia Jelassi (TUN) | 12.65 m | Ilhem Ben Salah (TUN) | 12.24 m | Ghada Ismail Mustafa (EGY) | 11.72 m |
| Shot put | Amira Naji Semlawi (EGY) | 13.01 m CR | Afef Ben Khaled (TUN) | 11.58 m | Salwa Dhouibi (TUN) | 11.27 m |
| Discus throw | Nasrine Dahman (TUN) | 40.98 m | Darine Hajabi (TUN) | 38.37 m | Amira Naji Semlawi (EGY) | 31.34 m |
| Javelin throw | Salwa Dhouibi (TUN) | 41.39 m | Muna Mustafa Youssef (EGY) | 40.44 m | Nesrine Mohamed Mohieddin (EGY) | 39.53 m |
| Heptathlon | Manel Bani (TUN) | 4197 pts | Hani Jamal Es Sayed (EGY) | 4108 pts | Wahiba Fahim (ALG) | 3212 pts |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Tunisia (TUN) | 13 | 10 | 5 | 28 |
| 2 | Qatar (QAT) | 9 | 7 | 7 | 23 |
| 3 | Algeria (ALG) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 26 |
| 4 | Kuwait (KUW) | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Egypt (EGY) | 2 | 6 | 8 | 16 |
| 6 | Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 7 | Syria (SYR) | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 8 | Sudan (SUD) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 | Yemen (YEM) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Jordan (JOR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | Lebanon (LIB) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (11 entries) | Totals (11 entries) | 41 | 41 | 41 | 123 |