Emirati stars Alketbi, Hammadi, Almatrooshi impress at Para Athletics GP
Great Britain continue to lead the medals table with 11 medals
Dubai: Paralympic stars and home favourites Noura Alketbi and Mohamed Hammadi put on a fine show as hosts UAE claimed two silver and three bronze medals on the penultimate day of the 15th Fazza International Para Athletics Grand Prix — Dubai 2024.
Alktebi threw the shot put to 5.95m to finish second behind Ukraine’s Anastasiia Moskalenko who got a distance of 6.41m in wheelchair women shot put final F32.
Before Alketbi’s silver medal, Hammadi was in action on the day claiming the third place in the men’s 400m wheelchair T34 race. The UAE star finished the race in 58.48 seconds behind his nemesis Walid Ktila from Tunisia (50.26s).
“It was a good race, but the wind was very strong. Happy with my timing; it was good preparation for my main race — 800m wheelchair race tomorrow,” said Hammadi after his race.
Compatriot Mariam Almatrooshi, a trainee of Khorfakkan club, settled for second place throwing the shot put to 9.66m in women’s shot put final F44/46. She finished behind Kattie Pegg of Canada (11.15m).
However, the highlight of the day was a world record show from USA’s Tatyana McFadden in women’s 400m T54 where she raced in 51.72 seconds.
Britain lead table
Meanwhile, Great Britain continued to lead the medals table with 11 medals.
Two more bronze medals were added to UAE’s medals tally thanks to the performances from Dubai Club for People of Determination trainee Siham Alrasheedy (22.80m) in women’s discus wheelchair discus finals F56/57.
Maryam Alzeyoudi claimed her second medal in Dubai with a throw of 7.98m in women’s shot put final F40/41.
Among the top names, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug continued his amazing run in Dubai winning the 800m wheelchair men ranking timeraces T54.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Dinesh Herath Mudiyanselage hurled the javelin to a distance of 60.27m for the gold medal in men’s javelin F46 final.
Mudiyanselage later said wasn’t too satisfied with the distance in Dubai, but the windy condition made the day tough for throwers.
As many as 573 Para athletes from 71 nations are competing at the 15th edition of the Grand Prix in a quest to qualify for Kobe 2024 World Para Athletics Championships and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.