Iran leads medal table with 18 gold medals on record-breaking fifth day
DUBAI, 12th March: UAE star Mohamed Hammadi became the first athlete to win four gold medals on a record-breaking fifth day of the inaugural IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championships Dubai 2016 on Friday 11th March.
Hammadi showed his pedigree with a spectacular win in the 100m T34 final to cement his status as a contender for the title in the Rio Paralympics. Hammadi already won the 200m, 400m and 800m T34 titles in Dubai this week.
“I am happy to get four medals. This is good preparation for me for the road to Rio,” said the 30-year-old world silver medallist who believes training is more important than competition in the build-up to the Paralympic Games.
“I have two events in Rio - 100 and 800. The first 10 or 15 metres of 100 is most important and in the 800 learning to pace yourself during two laps is key. I was able to check how things are going for me technically but my focus is on training,” said Hammadi who is looking forward to competitions in Sharjah and Fazza Championships with the ultimate aim of bringing glory to UAE in Brazil.
The inaugural IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championship is being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC).
The IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championships is organized and supervised by the Dubai Club for the Disabled with the support of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, the DSC and the UAE Paralympic Committee.
The Official Sponsors of this Championship are as follows: Hamdan Bin Mohamed Heritage Center (HHC), Al Maktoum Foundation, Sheikha Maitha Centre for People with Special Needs, Dubai Health Authority (DHA), Falcon City, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation, BMW and Dubai Investments. Dubai Sports TV is the media partner.
“We are proud to sponsor this type of Championships and to specially support this group of people. Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is committed to take care of these people, to help them and to integrate them into society. Already we have this kind of people working with us. We have provided them jobs and they are really professional. We are also proud to see UAE athletes getting many medals and also first ranking in this Championships,” said Ghanim Abdulla Rashid Lootah, Director Department of Institutional Marketing and Communications, DHA.
The road to Rio also began in Dubai for Siham Al Rasheedy who was elated after qualifying to the Paralympic Games in the women’s Discus with a best of 24.67m (708 points) at the Dubai Police Officer’s Club stadium in Jadaf.
It was an effort which fetched her only a silver medal although she threw further than Iran’s Hashemiyeh Motaghian Moavi (F56) whose throw of (20.83m) 890 points improved her Asian record set in Qatar last year and won the gold medal in the women’s Discus F54-57 in this Championships.
“Today they mixed 54 to 57. She (Siham) lost the gold medal by points not by performance. She is the best I’m sure. She will be the best in all of Asia one day,” said the UAE athlete’s Tunisian coach Fatma praising the commitment of Siham.
“She worked hard by training in camp for 45 days. She was seriously making good preparation training two times a day. She didn’t even take care of her son to concentrate on training this competition because she wanted to get a good result and qualification for Rio. Alhamdulillah (thanks to God) finally she did all of that today,” said Fatma.
A silver medallist in the Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, Siham, 33, is now determined to raise UAE’s flag in Brazil.
“My target is to be the best in the world one day and will work hard to give a good performance in the Paralympic Games,” said Siham who has been infected by polio since she was six months old but doesn’t consider it a physical handicap.
UAE’s Noura Al Ketbi was one eight athletes to set new Asian records adding nearly one metre to her previous best with a throw of 4.39m (436 points) in the women’s shot put F32-34.
Qatari Sara Hamdi Masoud (F33) also smashed the Asian record with a throw of 4.75 (613 points) to clinch gold while UAE’s Sara Al Senani (F33) took silver with a throw of 4.42 (506 points).
Iran produced five winners to extend their lead at the top of the medals table to 34, including 18 gold medals, ahead of China who have won 13 gold medals.
Hamed Amiri (F54) completed a hat trick of gold medals in Dubai winning the shot put F53 with a new Asian record 9.69m (940 points).
Iran also struck gold through Ramezanali Doolabi won the shot put F46 (13.14m), Mohammad Alvanpour in the men’s javelin throw F55/56 (36.86m) and Amin Abdolpour (F46) in the 1,500m T37/38/46.
China’s Liangmin Zhang (F11) won her second gold of the week with victory in the shot put F11/12 with a throw of 10.08m (835 points).
Malaysia’s Nasharuddin Mohd clocked a new Asian record time of 50.30 in the men’s 400m T20.
Asian records were also broken by China’s Juntingxian Jia (4.82) in the women’s long jump T11, Iran’s Alireza Mokhtari Hemami in men's shot put F53 (7.61) and
Thailand’s Surasak Damchoom in men's 1500m T38 (4:58.46).
Sri Lankan Anil Prasanna Jayalath beat Japan’s Atsushi Yamamoto for the second time in Dubai to clinch a golden double.
The 30-year-old won the men’s 100m T42 to add to his 200m title and declared he was to improve his winning time of 12.62 as he prepares to go for gold at this year’s Paralympic Games.
“Getting a good time was important for me today than just winning the 100m. I want to improve my time even more before the Games so I can really do something there,” said Jayalath confidently.
“I was in the outside lane today so wasn’t able to fully show my skill – I could have gone even faster. I lost to Yamamoto in the 100m at Incheon 2014 but I am not worried about this rivalry now. I am looking at the rest of the world and want to beat Scott Reardon, the Australian world champion,” he said.
There was more joy for Sri Lanka as Ajith Hettiarachchi won their fifth gold medal, winning the 100m T44 in 12.30 on his international debut.
India picked up two gold medals in the field as Jaideep Jaideep won the men’s discus F42 with 37.75m and Santhamuthuvel Kesavan took the discus F44 title with a best of 38.13m.
Athletes compete in distances from 100m, 200m, 400, 800m, 1,500m, 5,000m, 4x100m and 4x400m relay events on the track, and field events of shot put, discus, javelin, club throw, long jump, high jump and triple jump. The track and field events are held in accordance with the rules and regulations of IPC Athletics.
