Athletics: el-Guerrouj and Benhassi win Morocco two golds

Morocco's Hicham El-Guerrouj on Sunday won the gold medal of the 3000 m of the World Athletics indoor championships, held in Lisbon, Portugal.

El-Guerrouj clocked 7:37.74, ahead of Moroccan-Born Belgian Mohamed Moughit and Spanish Alberto Garcia.

This is El-Guerrouj's third indoor title after those he won in 1995 and 1997 on 1500 m.

Mounting star Hasna Benhassi won Morocco's second gold medal in the 1500 m race. Hasna Benhassi, African and Mediterranean games champion in 800m is the first Moroccan woman athlete to win an indoor world title.

The two medals put Morocco on the 6th rank on the overall ranking of nations participating in the Lisbon championships. The USA topped the ranking with 169 medals, followed by Russia and Jamaica.