Doha: Qatar’s para-athletics hero, Abdelrahman Abdelqader narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at Qatar Sports Club yesterday, throwing a season’s best that put him just centimetres outside of medal contention.
Abdelqader fought formidably with the best athletes in the world to finish just short of a podium finish in an incredibly strong field.
Elsewhere in the competition, it was a successful night for the region with medals for Tunisia, Morocco, the UAE and Algeria.
Abdelrahman’s improvement in para-athletics has been outstanding.
A self-proclaimed slow-starter in the sport, Abdelqader won Asian Para-Games gold in Incheon last year and broke the world-record just last month at the GCC Para-Athletics Championships.
Despite furthering that distance in tonight’s competition with a throw of 10.80, Mauricio Valencia of Colombia threw 10.93 with his last attempt of the competition to edge narrowly ahead of Abdelqader and take the bronze medal.
It was an Iranian one-two with Saleh Farajzadeh throwing an immense 11.52 to set a new world-record and finish in gold medal position ahead of team-mate Mohsen Kaedi’s silver.
Speaking after the competition, Abdelqader said: “I feel like I gained a lot from this experience. The competition was extremely tough and I learnt that I have to keep pushing even if I am in a medal position.”
There was further success for the region this evening with Walid Ktila and Raoua Tlili winning their second gold medals each for Tunisia and Abdelillah Mame of Morocco winning a shock gold ahead of team-mate and pre-race favourite El Amin Chentouf, who finished third.
Raoua Tlili won gold in the Women’s shot put F41, having previously won gold in the Women’s discus F41 with a new world-record last Friday.
Speaking after her victory, Tlili said: “This is my speciality, I am happy because I have maintained my level, it is my second gold medal in these championships and I am very proud of that. I am excited to go to Rio, I hope that I can win two more gold medals.”
Walid Ktila continued his dominance in the T34 sprint events with victory in the Men’s 800m F34. Ktila had already won gold in the 400m T34 and is still to compete in the 100m and 200m T34 with hopes of matching his four gold medals at the Lyon 2013 World Championships. He beat Paralympic silver medallist, Mohamed Hammadi of the UAE into second place, in a repeat of the London 2012 Paralympic final.
Speaking after his victory, Ktila said: “I’m happy to be here. I felt like I was a good ambassador for my country and I worked hard all season and these efforts are bearing fruit now. I’d like to thank all Tunisians who supported me – they encouraged me to do my best.”
Morocco’s El Amin Chentouf was the pre-race favourite in the Men’s 1,500m T13 final.
However, the three times World Champion and London 2012 Paralympic Champion could only finish third in a close and exhilarating final. Abdelillah Mame, who last won a 1,500m World Championships title in 2006, surged down the finishing straight to take gold, beating Algeria’s Abdellatif Baka into second place – Baka’s second silver at Doha 2015.
The Peninsula
