UAE's Al Aryani wins silver at Rio Paralympics

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  • Silver lining: For Al Aryani.

    Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani has received a huge confidence boost for his remaining three shooting events after capturing the UAE’s first Rio 2016 Paralympics medal on Thursday night.

    Al Aryani took silver in the R1 men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Deodoro, adding a second Paralympics medal to his tally, having won R6 50m Rifle Prone-SH1 gold in London four years ago.

    “I am always so happy when I get a medal and it comes with a lot of confidence for my other events this week,” the 46-year-old Al Aryani, who is currently R1 finals world record holder as well as the R7 qualification world record holder, told www.paralympic.org.

    “Standing events are not my strongest, but having the world record and winning multiple World Cups gave me hope that I would do well today.”

    China’s Chao Dong defending his gold medal with a winning margin of 3.2 ahead of Al Aryani, with South Korea’s Suwan grabbing bronze.

    “The way of getting this medal is not at all easy, I feel really lucky,” said Dong.

    “Shooting is about controlling your own conditions and it’s about having a stable mind to remain focused. It was totally out of my expectation to win the same colour medal in the exact same event.”

    I'm the man: Al Aryani.

    I’m the man: Al Aryani.

    Al Aryani will be in action again today, lining up for the R3 mixed 10m air rifle prone competition, where he is joined by fellow Emiratis Abdullah Saif Al Aryani and Saif Al Nuaimi.

    The Al Ain native, who competed in the Sydney 2000 Olympics before a car accident confined him to a wheelchair a year later, is looking to add more medals over the next five days.

    “It has been a big transition [from Olympian to Paralympian], but I found it true that ‘where there is a will, there is a way’,” added Al Aryani.

    “Of course I have a good base in balancing my focus, but my priority leans more towards the three positions over prone. The name of this game is giving me the encouragement to be strong, but controlling my nerves is not easy at all – experience will be the key player.”

    He is proud of his role in promoting disability sport in the UAE and is keen on guiding the younger generation to similar heights.

    “As the first Arabic shooter registered with the IPC, it has been interesting to observe the development and be part of the growth of the disabled Games in general and shooting in particular. And now I’m proud to be not only an athlete, but also a coach for four members of the UAE shooting team, where three of them are also here in Rio,” he said.

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