BELAL Mansoor Ali is the sole Bahraini representative in action on day ten of the London Olympics, as he runs in the semi-finals of the men's 1500m later tonight.

The 24-year-old finished in tenth place in his heat on Friday night but his finishing time of 3min:38.69sec was in fact faster than the winners of both the other two qualifiers and therefore enough to secure him a place in the second of tonight's semis.

Although somewhat out of form this season, Belal's personal best time of 3:31.49, recorded in Athens in 2007, is the fifth-quickest of the 13 competitors lining up on the London Olympic Stadium track tonight.

Perhaps even more interesting though, is the fact that of his 12 rivals in tonight's semi-final, only Florian Carvalho clocked a quicker time than Belal in the heats.

Tonight's race gets underway at 10.15pm Bahrain time but regardless of how he fares, Belal will face a quick turnaround to his next assignment, as he is also due to take his place in the heats of the 800m tomorrow morning.

Should he be successful in his quest to secure one of the 12 available places in Tuesday night's 1500m final then he will remain on course to at least emulate his achievements at the last games in Beijing four years ago, when he finished a respectable eighth in the same event.

While Belal was busy preparing himself for tonight's race, yesterday afforded the chance for other members of the Bahraini party in London to relax and reflect.

For swimmer Sarah Al Gulaij it was an opportunity to celebrate her 17th birthday, after a whirlwind 24 hours.

Sarah turned 17 on Friday, the same day as she made her Olympic debut and matched the achievement of fellow teenager and compatriot Khalid Ismaeel the previous day in beating her personal best time.

Elsewhere, Bahraini athletes and officials took time out to savour the sights and atmosphere of the Olympic Village.