Historic international win for UAE’s Latifa
sharjah — Shooter Latifa Al Suwaidi forged her name in history as the first Emirati sportswoman to claim a medal in an international Para Sports shooting competition.
Latifa claimed bronze in the R2 10-metre Air Rifle Standing competition on Tuesday with 433.9 points at the ongoing International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games 2019 in Sharjah.
German Elke Seeliger came on top, with silver medal going to Uzbek shooter, Malika Kenjaeva.
Seeliger also won the gold medal in women’s R8 50-metre 3 Positions. Latvian Margita Kanopka took top podium position in the women’s P2 10-metre Air Pistol category.
“Preparing for this tournament, I doubled my training and hard work to be able to successfully pitch myself against international athletes. I am grateful to have achieved this international honour here in my beloved country,” said Latifa.
She went on to thank the spectators for their lively support.
European athletes secured top medals in fencing competitions,
upsetting the Chinese dominance seen in the games up until now.
The UK’s Piers Gilliver snatched the gold away from China’s Gang Sun in the Épée Male Individual Senior A category, who followed in second place. Bronze was claimed by Iraqi Zainulabdeen Al Madhkhoori and Maxim Shaburov from Russia.
In the Épée Male Individual Senior
B category, China’s Daoliang Hu won the gold medal. Silver was claimed by Britain’s Dimitri Coutya, and bronze was received by Iraqi Ammar Ali and Jie Zhang from China.
In the female fencing competitions, Hungarian Zsuzsanna Krajnyak claimed gold after defeating China’s Jing Rong in the Foil Female Individual Senior A category.
In the shooting event on Wednesday, the 10-Metrr Rifle Men’s shooting competition ended with Emirati athletes coming out on top, yet again, taking all three podium positions. Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani won his third gold with a final score of 631.4. He was followed by Saif Al Nuami who won silver, while bronze was claimed by Obaid Al Dahmani.