Javelin thrower Ihab Abdel-Rahman said he is proud to become the first Egyptian ever to win an Athletics medal at the World Championships after clinching the silver in Beijing on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old wrote his name in the athletics hall of fame with a throw of 88.99 metres, 3.73 metres less than gold medalist Julius Yego of Kenya. The bronze medal was won by Tero Pitkamaki of Finland with an 87.64m throw.

Although Abdel-Rahman could not better his personal best of 89.21 metres in Shanghai on 18 May 2014, his effort on Wednesday is the fifth furthest anyone has thrown in 2015.

"I'm so excited, this was a very tough day," Abdel-Rahman said in an interview with the television of the Beijing World Championships.

"I'm crazy happy, super crazy happy today. I'm also very happy because I got the first ever world medal for my country.

"I love my country and I hope to also do well next year," he added, referring to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Abdel-Rahman qualified for the final after finishing eighth in the semi-final with a 82.85 metre throw, 3.29 metres behind first-placed Andreas Hofmann of Germany.

He is the third of Egypt's three-member delegation to Beijing as hammer thrower Mostafa Elgamal finished seventh with a 76.81 metre throw on Sunday, hours after Mostafa Amr missed out on the shot put final during his World Championships, finishing 18th out of 28 athletes.

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