The UAE Paralympics delegation returned to Dubai on Tuesday and were welcomed by family, friends and several sports officials at the airport to honour their heroic efforts in London.
Mohamed Al Hamly, the president of the UAE Disabled Sports Federation, was at the helm of the welcoming festivities along with his vice president Tariq bin Khadem.
Also present were Mohammed Al Kamali, the secretary general of the UAE National Olympic Committee, Ibrahim Abdelmalek, the secretary general of the General Authority for Sports and Youth, and Yousef Al Serkal, the UAE Football Association President.
The crowds swarmed around medal winners – gold medallist shooter, Abdulla Alaryani, and star sprinter Mohamed Hammadi, who quickly gave his father one of his two medals to wear around his neck.
“As long as my dad is here to greet me, I couldn’t wish for more,” an elated Hammadi told Sport360° upon his arrival. “This reception is amazing. Thank God for everything. I’m so happy all these people came out to welcome us home.”
The UAE has a total of 12 medals in their history at the Paralympics and Abdelmalek, who vows to continue to support special sports in the country, says there’s no time for slowing down.
“We’ve become accustomed to our athletes with special needs doing us proud and raising the UAE flag ever chance they get. This isn’t new to us and we expect more from them,” Abdelmalek said.
“The preparation for Rio starts now so they can add more to their achievements list. We’d like to congratulate the clubs for special sports across the UAE because they played an important role in their development.”
Meanwhile Bin Khadem also paid tribute to the various clubs where the athletes train. He said: “We must thank all the clubs. The Federation placed a strategy and all clubs for special sports followed it in a perfect manner so we can’t take the credit.
"The Federation only arranged boot camps ahead of major competitions but the real work was done by the clubs, who prepared our Paralympians for this moment.
“Our athletes had a great experience there even if the large crowds were quite overwhelming. The Brits are very patriotic but they were cheering for everyone which I think was one of the key reasons behind the success of this event.
"They are very cultured and you could feel the support from everyone, from the volunteers to the spectators. It helped a lot.”
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