UAE end GCC Games campaign with 66 medals

The UAE athletes concluded their participation in the 4th GCC Games – Doha 2026 with a total of 66 medals, comprising 13 gold, 19 silver and 34 bronze, according to the overall medal table issued by the Games Organising Committee.

The UAE finished fifth overall, behind leaders Qatar with 133 medals, followed by Saudi Arabia with 81, Bahrain with 62 and Kuwait with 60, while the Sultanate of Oman placed sixth with 29 medals.

The GCC Games saw UAE athletes deliver strong performances across several sports, most notably archery, shooting, athletics, snooker, billiards and equestrian, alongside taekwondo, karate, fencing, boxing, padel, bowling, table tennis and swimming. Male and female athletes achieved a range of results across most of the Games’ competitions.

In the UAE’s final appearance at the event, the national karate team won five bronze medals in kumite, through Ibrahim Ahmed Bakhit in the men’s under-60kg category, Rashid Khaled Al-Saridi in the men’s under-67kg category, Ali Nasser Ahmed in the men’s under-75kg category, Ali Abdullah Al Ali in the men’s under-84kg category, and Saif Rashid Al-Qaidi in the men’s over-84kg category, concluding the team’s campaign with another achievement on GCC podiums.

The Games are set to feature the handball final between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which will determine the gold and silver medalists at the close of the competitions.

The 4th GCC Games, hosted by Qatar from 11 to 22, brought together six GCC countries. The UAE was represented by 164 athletes, comprising 115 men and 49 women, who competed across 17 individual and team sports.

The UAE’s participation in Doha 2026 ranks as the country’s second-best performance in GCC Games history by total medal count, after Dammam 2015, which remains the UAE’s most successful edition with 73 medals. The UAE had previously won 50 medals at Kuwait 2022 and 26 medals at the inaugural edition held in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2011.

On Thursday, the UAE archery team delivered a distinguished performance adding nine medals: three gold, five silver and one bronze.

Shehab Ahmed Al Saedi had opened the UAE’s archery medal account by winning bronze in the men’s individual compound event.

The first gold came through the women’s compound team, comprising Joumana Al Najjar, Amna Al Awadhi and Maitha Al Nuaimi, while Amna Al Awadhi won gold in the women’s individual compound event. Omar Al Ali added the third gold in the men’s individual recurve event.

In the team events, the men’s compound team, comprising Yousef Al Hosani, Sultan Al Menhali and Shehab Ahmed Al Saedi, won silver. The men’s recurve team, featuring Saeed Al Dhuhoori, Omar Al Ali and Abdalla Al Ketbi, also claimed silver, while the women’s recurve team, comprising Hessa Al Awadhi, Fatima Al Blooshi and Maryam Al Sayegh, won silver. Joumana Al Najjar and Shehab Ahmed Al Saedi added silver in the compound mixed team event, while Joumana Al Najjar also claimed silver in the women’s individual compound event. The bronze medal came through Omar Al Ali and Hessa Al Awadhi in the recurve mixed team event.

The UAE men’s padel team also won gold, while the women’s team claimed bronze in the team competition.