UAE claims 17 medals at IWAS Games in Sochi

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Golden boy: Al Hammadi.

    At 1:00am on Sunday at Dubai airport’s Terminal 3, double Paralympic medallist Mohammed Al Hammadi ushered in more than 20 Emirati athletes who participated at the IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports) World Games in Sochi and returned with an impressive 17-medal haul – all in track and field.

    – IWAS: Al Shehhi aiming for Rio 2016 Olympic success
    – UK Athletics: Jason Gardener named new president

    A host of officials from the UAE Federation for Disability Sports welcomed back the national squad, whose efforts clinched the Emirates ninth place in the final medals table amongst 34 countries.

    Al Hammadi, a wheelchair sprinter who won a silver and a bronze at the London 2012 Paralympics, came back from Russia with four medals – 100m gold, 400m and 800m silver and 200m bronze in the T34 class – to add to his ever-increasing tally of international titles.

    The 29-year-old, who contracted polio as a young boy which confined him to a wheelchair, has several world championship medals to his name but he admits Paralympic gold is his ultimate goal.

    “I thank God for the medals I won in Sochi,” the Althiqah Club for the Disabled athlete told Sport360.

    “For me personally, I take these competitions as stepping stones towards my main goal, which is the Rio 2016 Paralympics. At the moment I’m fine-tuning many little things whether in my wheelchair, my start, my position in the chair… so I’ll keep working so I’m ready for Rio.

    “My preparation has been going great. I feel like I’m 70 or 80 per cent ready. We have the IPC World Athletics Championships coming up in Doha (October 21-31), which will provide another chance to test myself. Hopefully in Rio I’ll be competing for the gold.”

    Naseib Araidat, another of the UAE’s three gold medallists in Sochi, is also one of the country’s household names in para-athletics.

    At 38, Araidat is in the middle of launching a dream comeback after staying on the sidelines for almost eight years.

    Araidat is one of the UAE’s very first athletes to participate at the Paralympics back in the ‘90s and he won a silver medal in the 400m T52 at the Sydney 2000 Games. He later sustained a shoulder injury and stepped away from the sport only to make a return earlier this year. He’s been on a roll since he came back, his 100m gold in Sochi being one of several medals he has scooped in 2015.

    “Mr. Thani Juma Berragad the chairman of the Dubai Club for the Disabled sought me out and encouraged me to get back to the track,” explained Araidat.

    “He supported me and the club paid for all my medical expenses. I returned to training and competition around seven months ago. Thankfully I won this gold medal in Sochi but hopefully it’s just the beginning and the best is yet to come.

    Triple medallist: Al Shehhi.

    "Since I came back I won three silver medals in Al Ain, I got two silvers and a bronze in the Fazza Championships, three silvers in Sharjah, three silvers in China, and two silver and a bronze in Italy. And now this gold from Sochi. So it’s been great so far.

    “Insha’Allah, even though time is quite tight, I am preparing to compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.”

    Paralympic sport has taken huge strides in the UAE over the past decade and the results on the international stage have matched that development.

    “The reason is that our Sheikhs and leaders really do support disability sports in the country,” says Araidat. “Especially from a psychological standpoint, the fact that they honour us every time we achieve a good result, that’s very important for an athlete’s psyche.

    “In the past, we used to achieve great things on the international stage but no one ever spoke to us. Now we are honoured in the same manner the able-bodied athletes are celebrated and we even get prize money bonuses for all our accomplishments. That’s a good incentive.

    “Para-athletics has seen so much development here in recent years. The very best wheelchairs and equipment are made available to me now. We get sent to international training camps, we go to the best competitions, so there is great interest from our sports authorities.

    “I remember when I started out, our national team had five athletes. Look at us now, we have huge delegations everywhere we go.”

    Recommended