UAE’s Abdullah Al-Aryani shoots way to gold medal
Leading Emirati Paralympian, 51, came first in men’s 50m rifle competition
One of the UAE’s most decorated athletes,
Abdullah Al-Aryani, on Friday won gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
The 51-year-old from Al-Ain finished top of the standings at Asaka Shooting Range with a total score of 453.6. Laslo Suranji of Serbia took silver with 452.9, and Shim Youngjip of South Korea claimed bronze, scoring 442.2.
It was the UAE’s second medal of the Games, and first gold.
At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Al-Aryani won one gold medal — in the R6 mixed 50m rifle prone SH1 — and three silvers in other categories. He had also taken part in the London Games four years earlier.
In addition, the sharpshooter scooped two golds at the Cheongju 2018 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in South Korea, and two silver and two bronze in Suhl, Germany in 2014.
Medal rush: Paralympics enters home straight
Paralympians battled for the last medals in swimming and cycling on Friday, while Turkey’s women defended their goalball title as the Tokyo Games headed into their final days.
A whopping 55 gold medals were up for grabs on day 10 of the competition, including the men’s and women’s finals in goalball — one of the few Paralympic sports without an Olympic equivalent.
Women’s champions Turkey beat the US 9-2, ending the comeback queens’ run of second-half victories. Brazil were set to take on China in the men’s final.
In swimming, there were 16 finals on the last day of competition, and US Paralympic legend Jessica Long added another medal to her bulging collection.
She won the women’s S8 100m butterfly to clinch her 29th Paralympic medal — the same number as her age, and more than Michael Phelps’ 28 Olympic medals.
Russian silver medallist Viktoriia Ischchiulova, 16, said Long was “so cool” and “an idol for me.”
“I try to measure up to her, but not to how many medals she has won — I want to win even more — but more to her technique, how she acts before the race, her endurance and overall, how she is as a person.”
At the Olympic Stadium, Pakistan’s team won its first ever Paralympic gold.
“It is great to make history for my country again,” said F37 men’s discus thrower Haider Ali.
“This gold will be very important for para sport in my country.”
The 36-year-old is also responsible for Pakistan’s only other two Paralympic medals — silver at Beijing 2008, and bronze at Rio 2016.
Meanwhile, Niels Vink of the Netherlands won bronze in wheelchair tennis quad singles, beating Japan’s Koji Sugeno 6-1, 6-4.
Eighteen-year-old Vink, who set his sights on becoming a Paralympian when he visited the 2012 London Games with his mother, was the tournament’s youngest player.
“My best experience ever,” said
Vink, who also won doubles gold with partner Sam Schroder.
“To go home with two medals from my first Paralympics, it’s insane.”
Curtis McGrath, an Australian canoeist who lost his legs in Afghanistan, told AFP he had no regrets about the time he served there, after winning a second Paralympics gold.
“I was searching for improvised explosive devices, clearing the way for school buses,” said McGrath, whose life changed when he stepped on an IED.