Dubai World Para Athletics GP: Three medals for UAE

Dubai - Al Hammadi completed the race in 1:47.46mins to finish behind his Tunisian rival Walid Ktila (1:38.43min)

The UAE’s middle-distance Paralympic champion Mohammed Al Hammadi continued his good run at the Dubai Club for People of Determination grounds, picking up his second silver at the 12th Fazza- Dubai 2021 World Para Athletics Grand Prix on Friday.

Al Hammadi completed the race in 1:47.46mins to finish behind his Tunisian rival Walid Ktila (1:38.43min), a multiple Paralympic champion, in his pet event – the Men’s 800 T34m final.

The third position was claimed by UAE’s Ahmed Nawad (1:53.35min).

Walid, who set an African record with his effort, said: “I think about winning before every race and about implementing my tactics during the competition day."

"Al Hammadi is very intelligent and a nice human being. We both are friends on and off the field,” he said of his UAE competitor Al Hammadi, who had beaten Walid for the gold at Rio 2016 Paralympics in the T34 800m.

UAE's Aishah Salem Alkhaaldi took the bronze by throwing the javelin to a distance of 8.59m in the javelin wheelchair women final F33.

Paralympic medallist in shot put, Sara Alsenaani, took the fourth place with a throw of 8.25 m.

The eventual gold medallist Fouzia El Kassioui’s effort of 14.78 m set a new African record.

Dubai Club's Siham Alrasheedy finished fourth in women's discus F57 final with a distance of 26.21m

New World Record

Italy’s Ambra Sabatini set a new world record and took the gold, finishing the women’s final T62/ 63/ 64 in 14.59 seconds.

“I feel very excited. I didn’t realise my finish time; I just put all my energy to get a good timing here. I am really happy now to see that I got a world record. This is my first international competition; I will start my preparation for Tokyo 2020 now,” said the 19-year-old Sabatini, who started competing in Para athletics only in 2019.

Sabatini had just set an Italian record at 60m Indoor competition two weeks back.

Turkey sweeps podium

Meanwhile, Turkey swept the medals in women’s 100m T53/54 event with Hamide Dogangun (17.51 sec), Zubeyde Supurgeci (18.00s) and Zeynep Acet (18.71s) taking the top three positions.

India’s gold medal tally swelled to nine with the javelin throwers making a mark on the day. Javelin throwers Navdeep (F41), Ajeet Singh (F46) and Sandeep Sandeep (F64), a world champion, claimed the gold for India on the day.

Thailand's Para athletes continued their strong show in wheelchair races with Pongsakorn Paeyo (15.11 sec) and Pichet Krungget (15.66 sec) taking the top two positions in men's 100m T53 final.