Paralympic star and home favourite Mohamed Hammadi had waited for a long time for the gold medal in the men’s 800m wheelchair T34 race and the moment arrived here at home, on the final day of the 15th Fazza International Para Athletics Grand Prix – Dubai 2024.
This was also the first gold for the hosts UAEs who have had several silver and bronze medals in its tally from the last two days.
Hammadi finished the race with an impressive timing of 1:38.02 minutes, which was enough to give him the gold medal ahead of his nemesis and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Walid Ktila (1:38.21) of Tunisia and Australia’s Rheed McCracken (1:38.78), the champion in men’s 400m wheelchair race T34.
For Hammadi, it was also a big confidence booster in the build-up to the Kobe 2024 World Para Athletics Championships and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. However, the UAE star did not want to get carried away by what he had accomplished yet and said: “The work continues and there’s still a few months to the big events.
“I feel very happy today. It was a good timing for me. This was important as it was more about analysing my opponents and the challenges they pose. I am happy I was able to execute my plan and it worked well for me.
“My strategy was to go for a sprint in the final 200m; I will aim for a sprint in the final 300m now,” said an elated Hammadi as he waved to the cheering crowd after his win.
On the penultimate day, Hammadi was also in action claiming third place in the men’s 400m wheelchair T34 race. The UAE star finished the race in 58.48 seconds behind his nemesis Ktila from Tunisia (50.26s).
Compatriot Noura Alketbi put up a strong performance throwing the shot putt to 5.95m to finish second behind Ukraine’s Anastasiia Moskalenko who cleared a distance of 6.41m in the wheelchair women’s shot put final F32.
Meanwhile, Mariam Almatrooshi, a trainee of the Khorfakkan club, settled for second place throwing the shot putt to 9.66 m in the women’s shot put final F44/46. She finished behind Kattie Pegg of Canada (11.15 m).
Overall, the UAE claimed two silver and three bronze medals on Wednesday.
The highlight of the penultimate day was a world record show from USA’s Tatyana McFadden in women’s 400 m T54 where she clocked 51.72 seconds.
Two more bronze medals were added to UAE’s medals tally thanks to the performances from Dubai Club for People of Determination trainee Siham Alrasheedy (22.80 m) in women’s discus wheelchair discus finals F56/57 while
Maryam Alzeyoudi claimed her second medal with a throw of 7.98 m in the women’s shot put final F40/41.
Among the top names, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug continued his amazing run in Dubai winning the 800 m wheelchair men ranking time races T54.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Dinesh Herath Mudiyanselage hurled the javelin to a distance of 60.27m for the gold medal in the men’s javelin F46 final.
Mudiyanselage later said he wasn’t too satisfied with the distance in Dubai, but the windy condition made the day tough for throwers.
As many as 573 Para athletes from 71 nations are competing at the 15th edition of the Grand Prix in a quest to qualify for the Kobe 2024 World Para Athletics Championships and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.