Female para athletes come to the fore in Dubai

Dubai: Two female athletes came up with standout performances at the end of the seventh day of the Dubai 2019 World Para Athletics Championships being held at the Dubai Club for People of Determination.

First it was Indonesian teenager Karisma Evi Tiarani powering her way to gold with a new world record in the women’s 100m T63, while British youngster Sophie Hahn helped herself to a second gold along with a new world record in the women’s 200m T38 category.

The 18-year-old Tiarani was simply too quick for the rest of the field as even a slowdown in the last few metres did not stop her from breaking the previous world mark of 14.90s standing in her name. Monica Contrafatto of Italy took silver (14.72s) and Belgium’s Gitte Haenen came in third (15.60s).

“I had prepared myself well for this day. Maybe I should have kept my momentum till the finish line and I could have had a much better record time,” Tiarani told Gulf News.

“But one thing is clear. I know that I am well at peaking to my best in time for the Tokyo Paralympic Games next year. This not only gives me the satisfaction, but also the consolation that we are on the right track.”

Hahn was the other athlete in the limelight and the Briton didn’t disappoint as she shaved off her own world mark of 25.93 set in London last year and set a new world record of 25.92s in the women’s 200m T38 event. Luca Ekler of Italy took the silver with a time of 26.61s, while Australian Rhiannon Clarke came in third (26.79s).

The remaining three world records that fell came in the men’s events with Brazilian Rodrigo Alessandro Da Silva setting a new mark in the men’s discus throw F11 with a throw of 46.10m while breaking Italian Oney Tapia’s old record of 46.07m. Vladimir Sviridov of Russia won gold with a world record in the men’s shot put F36 with a throw of 16.32m, while Li Liu re-wrote the men’s shot put F32 mark with a throw of 12.05m as China continued to dominate the medals standings for yet another day.