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Southpaw Sara Al Senaani became the first ever UAE woman to win a Paralympics medal when she claimed bronze in the T33 classification shot put event in Rio de Janeiro, late Friday night.
It was an Arab conquest for podium berths when Asmahan Boudjadar of Algeria and Qatar's Sara Hamdi Masoud won gold and silver respectively. Asmahan hurled the green coloured iron ball to 5.72 metres while Sara Hamdi and Sara touched 5.39m and 5.09m as their best efforts respectively.
The final round saw seven competitors fighting for honours with five throws each at the Maracana main stadium. Sara did well in the starting attempts with figures close to the five-metre mark.
The first saw 4.61m on the scoreboard while the second and third throws were not counted, and in her fourth, Sara virtually sealed the bronze in her name with a distance of 5.09m.
Half an hour later, Jazeera University's Sara Al after her achievement, moved close to the podium for the medals ceremony, and naturally like most sportspersons in her position, was overcome with emotion.
The strong personality in her however kept the tears away from her face and she waited for her turn of the presentation and for the national for Algerian thrower Asmahan Boudjadar (gold medallist) to get over. Seconds later, Sara, a university student, took her share of the 'bite' of the bronze medal, and posed with a wide grin for the photographers.
"The medal is a plus point no doubt. Being the first ever Emirati woman to get a Paralympics medal is the milestone thanks to the support I get from my close ones, the educational institutions I go to and the coaches who have guided me all along. To all of them and the leaders of my country, I dedicate this medal," the 23 year-old who trains close to two hours, four days a week, said.
Slightly unconventional in her throwing action, especially during the final phases of her left handed throws, Sara goes through the movements very simply and quickly without much fuss or delay before the actual throw.
The wheelchair stricken new star on the horizon with international experience including the London Paralympics four years ago as a budding teenager, trains at the Abu Dhabi Sports Club for Special Needs, along with her childhood buddy - 20 year-old Zenab Al Breiki - a F32 women's club thrower.
They have been friends right from school days and the friendship has to led to both throwers learning the finer points of their sport each day, not letting their wheelchair situations in their lives to bother them. Zenab too is a member of the UAE contingent to the Rio Paralympics.
moni@khaleejtimes.com
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