UAE gold medallist Alaryani eyeing more Paralympic glory

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  • Emirati shooter Abdulla Sultan Al Aryani won the UAE’s first gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and set his sights on making it a dream double today.

    The 42-year-old won the R6-50m prone rifle shooting after holding his nerve in a thrilling climax to proceedings at the London’s Royal Artillery Barracks yesterday.

    Firing a final score of 102.8 for an overall total of 694.8, the Emirati took gold by the narrowest of margins, edging out Spain’s Juan Antonio Saavedra Reinaldo by just 0.2.

    “It’s awesome,” Al Aryani told Sport360°. “To win the UAE’s first gold medal at the Paralympics is a real honour for me and I’m very proud. It’s something amazing and I can’t believe it.”

    He had missed out on the final round at the Beijing Games in 2008, but said: “I was sure that I was going to get the gold. From the day I finished the last Paralympic Games I started immediately planning for this one. I was very focused on London.”

    Al Aryani is the second Emirati to win a Paralympic gold after weightlifter Mohammed Khamis Khalaf won at the 2004 Athens Games.

    President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan congratulated him on the win, which he described as the “greatest moment of my life”.

    But Al Aryani has already turned his attention to today’s R7-50m Rifle 3 Positions final as he eyes more glory. “I am ready to win another gold medal,” he said. “And I have every confidence I will.”

    Al Ain-born Al Aryani, paralysed from the waist down after a car crash, hopes his success will help inspire young children in the UAE to pursue their own dreams no matter the obstacles.

    “By training and working hard I have shown that anything is possible,” he added. “It’s important to focus on a target and work on it. I started training immediately after Beijing in 2008, working four years for this day. And I did it.”

    A member of the 2000 Olympic team which featured Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Hasher Al Maktoum (who won gold in Athens 2004), Al Aryani was asked if he would now hang up his rifle after this success.

    “No, I will start preparing for the next Olympic Games in Rio of course,” he said. “Before then, there are many World Cups and many competitions and I’m committed to doing well in those and winning more medals for my country.”

    UAE sprinter Mohammed Hammadi made it a day to remember as he took silver in the 200-metre T34 competition behind Walid Ktila.

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