Suranji hails Alaryani after UAE shooter hits the bull's-eye at Paralympics

UAE's Abdulla Sultan Alaryani (centre) with silver medallist Laslo Suranji (left) and bronze medallist Youngjip Shim. (Twitter)

Dubai - Alaryani's gold came after Mohamed Al Hammadi won a bronze in the men's 100m T34

By Team KT

Published: Fri 3 Sep 2021, 10:35 PM

Last updated: Fri 3 Sep 2021, 10:51 PM

UAE's Abdulla Sultan Alaryani won the country's first gold medal in the men's 50m SH1 rifle event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Friday.

Alaryani's gold came after Mohamed Al Hammadi won a bronze in the men's 100m T34 at the Tokyo Games.

Alaryani, who had won the silver medal at Rio 2016, jumped to the top spot after shooting a score of 453.6.

It is the two-time world champion’s second Paralympic title, having won the gold in London in 2012.

He also won a silver at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. For Alaryani, it is his fifth Paralympics medal.

The 51-year-old Alaryani overcame the challenge from Laslo Suranji, the defending Paralympic champion, pushing the Serbian to the second spot on the podium.

Youngjip Shim of South Korea, 47, took the bronze, his first medal at a Paralympic.

Alaryani came up with a superb display on Friday, finding his best form in the last five shots to take his first title in this event – even though he was not completely satisfied with his performance.

"This is my favourite event and I'm always trying to improve during training and competition," Alaryani was quoted as saying by the Tokyo Paralympics’ official website.

"Today the atmosphere affected my performance, and made it more difficult to compete in the final.”

Suranji, who settled for the silver, congratulated Alaryani on winning the gold medal.

"I'm very happy for my friend who won the gold medal today. He was the silver medallist behind me in Rio, so I'm very happy for him," the Serbian said.

Meanwhile, paralympians battled for the last medals in swimming and cycling on Friday, while Turkey's women defended their goalball title as the Tokyo Games headed into their final days.

A whopping 55 gold medals were up for grabs on day 10 of the competition, including the men's and women's finals in goalball -- one of the few Paralympic sports without an Olympic equivalent.

Women's champions Turkey beat the United States 9-2, ending the comeback queens' run of second-half victories. Brazil were set to take on China in the men's final.

In swimming, there were 16 finals on the last day of competition, and US Paralympic legend Jessica Long added another medal to her bulging collection.

She won the women's S8 100m butterfly to clinch her 29th Paralympic medal -- the same number as her age, and more than Michael Phelps' 28 Olympic medals.

Russian silver medallist Viktoriia Ischchiulova, 16, said Long was "so cool" and "an idol for me".

"I try to measure up to her, but not to how many medals she has won -- I want to win even more -- but more to her technique, how she acts before the race, her endurance and overall, how she is as a person." (with inputs from AFP)