Dubai: The Chairman of the UAE Paralympic Committee (UAE PC) has vowed the country will be targeting their best-ever performance at the Asian Paralympic Games in South Korea later this year.
The Asian Paralympic Games will be staged in Incheon from October 18-24 and the UAE is keen on sending their biggest-ever contingent for the continental competition.
The UAE made its debut at the Guangzhou Paralympic Games in 2010 with four athletes and Malaleh Hassan brought home the only medal when he won gold in the shot put.
“It’s been a wonderful year for us so far. We’ve had this entire series of Fazza competitions and our athletes have got the exposure and experience we were looking at.
“Suddenly there has been a series of activities for our disabled athletes and they have had a chance to display their talent among the best,” Mohammad Fadhel Al Hamli, Chairman, UAE PC told Gulf News at the conclusion of the season-ending ‘UAE PC Sports Festival’ on Saturday.
The UAE’s Olympic champion Mohammad Khamis Khalaf was in good form lifting 200kgs while teammate Abdullah Bin Farhan took third place leaving Khor Fakkan Club’s Abdullah Al Naqbi for silver in the over 90kg category in the Powerlifting competition.
Athletes from Al Ain Special Needs Club dominated the cycling events, while Dubai made a clean sweep in the table tennis tournament. The Abu Dhabi Special Needs Club won the football and bowling competitions.
“I hope this spirit of winning will continue and our athletes can make the trip to South Korea and return with many more medals,” he added.
The UAE Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball team has already qualified for the Incheon Paralympic Games after winning one of three spots on offer at last month’s Sixth Fazza International Wheelchair Basketball Championship — the IWBF West Asian qualifier hosted by the Dubai Club for the Disabled.
“It is summer now and all our teams will be away on training camps preparing for the competitions ahead. The Asian Paralympic Games are definitely the biggest event before us and I expect we will sending the biggest contingent in the history of the UAE Paralympics Movement,” Al Hameli said.
“Our target is a contingent of at least 100 athletes in Incheon. We’ve already made a start and I hope we can build on the basketball team’s success and have more individual athletes qualifying in the next few months,” he added.
