GOLD FOR UAE

Despite trailing at the final turn, the UAE’s Mohamed Al Hammadi never lost hope and managed to out-push Tunisia’s Walid Ktila in an epic race to upset the men’s reigning T34-800 metres world champion at the Rio Paralympics, early hours UAE time on Thursday.

The stunning victory for Al Hammadi who won silver (T34-200m) and bronze (T34100m) at the London Paralympics four years ago, was sweet revenge for the Sharjah Al Thiqqa Club star over his Tunisian arch rival.

Al Hammadi twice finished behind Ktila at the 2015 and 2013 World Championships. But that was not the case on Wednesday as Al Hammadi shocked Ktila to secure the gold in a Paralympic Record time of 1 minute and 40.24 seconds.

Al Hammadi when asked about his underdog label, said: “People said at the beginning that I probably won’t win. I came from behind and I won. They kept saying ‘Mohamed is not training, not doing this, not doing that,’ and I won the gold medal. But Walid (Ktila) was nice to me and congratulated me.”

“In the end Mohamed, who won the gold medal, is a friend and is from an Arab country so I’m happy for him as well,” Ktila said. “I stayed in the race, wanted to get the gold, but I’m happy with silver as long as it was Mohamed (Al Hammadi) that got it.”

Ktila — who retained his world record — clocked 1:40.31 for the silver; it was his first non-golden performance at a Paralympics and worlds event. He will leave Rio 2016 with two medals, including gold in the men’s T34100m.

After not reaching the podium at the Doha 2015 World Championship,19-year-old Australian Rheed McCracken (1:41.25) captured the bronze in Rio on Wednesday night.

In the qualifying rounds, Al Hammadi had the best time overall with 1:44.96. Ktila was next with 1:46.28 and McCracken was the third best qualifier on 1:46.39 in heat 2.

moni@khaleejtimes.com