Dubai: Ahmad Khamis Al Beloushi made a remarkable comeback from injury to bag the UAE’s first gold medal at the Sixth Fazza IPC Powerlifting World Cup Dubai 2015 on Wednesday.
Al Beloushi stole the limelight on the final day of the competition at the Dubai Club for the Disabled with a gold medal-winning lift of 202kg in the over-107kg category to beat Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Al Najim, whose best lift was 186kg.
It was a sweet personal triumph for veteran powerlifter Al Beloushi, who underwent three operations after being injured during the London Paralympics in 2012.
“I did not expect to win the gold, though I was prepared to lift more than what was achieved. But I’m satisfied with this performance since I’m returning from an injury lay-off,” said the 40-year-old, whose long road to recovery is complete.
“When I started preparing for this championship I did not believe I could win. But this victory has inspired me to train harder for the Asian Powerlifting Championships in July and achieve my dream of qualifying for the Rio Paralympics next year.”
The UAE finished the week-long competition with five medals, including two earlier silver and two bronze.
Randa Mahmoud (up to 86kg) and Nadia Ali (over 86kg) added two more gold to Egypt’s tally to underline their dominance at the top of the table with 15 medals — 13 gold and two silver.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of IPC Powerlifting Jon Amos has called for a change in how the public view disabled sports.
“It’s better to come and see rather than think what it would be like. Don’t think ‘oh it can’t be good’ or it’s disabled people. Come and look at the peoples’ ability and forget the word disability,” said the former swimmer turned powerlifter who represented Great Britain at the Paralympics.
“These are athletes that just happen to have this disability, for sure. We are not looking at disability here, we are looking at ability.”
Amos also lauded Dubai for playing a lead role in promoting disabled sports through the Fazza Championships.
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council (DSC), the event was organised and supervised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Heritage Center (HHC) and Dubai Club for the Disabled with support from the DSC and UAE Paralympic Committee.
