Al Qaid takes gold tally at IWAS World Games to four

An international championship in Sharjah is turning into the golden games for Mohammed Al Qaid.

The wheelchair athlete won three gold medals on the fourth day of the IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport) World Games 2011 while breaking another world record.

This takes his tally to four golds and two world bests during the action in Sharjah, while his UAE team added a further four silver and three bronze medals to take their total to 37 (7G, 14S, 16B).

Al Qaid began his golden hat-trick in the 800m wheelchair (T34) race, which he won in one minute 51.41 seconds, an Asian record, to beat the Australian Rheed McCracken, who came second in 1.53.61, while Thai Pichaya Kurattanasiri finished third in 2:10.13 minutes.

He went on to strike more gold in the 400m and 1500m wheelchair, in which he broke the world record.

These followed his earlier success in the competition in the 200m wheelchair in which he stormed to gold in a world record time.And he received solid support from other members of the UAE team.

In the club throw (F32) event, Souhaib Al Qasim, the national champion, came second with a throw of 22.40m, behind Poland's Maciej Sochal, who took gold with a throw of 27.61m.

Aisha Salem Bani Khaled won her second medal of the Games by taking silver medal in the discus wheelchair event with a throw of 10.65m, behind China's Feixia Dong.

Her teammate Thuraya AL Zaabi won the bronze medal in the shotput wheelchair event with a throw of 6.04m, behind South Africa's Emily Zandile Nhlapo, who took gold with a throw of 6.81m, and Germany's Marie Bramer, who got the silver medal with a throw of 6.30m.

Ayed Al Hababi clinched the bronze medal in a time of 53:79 in the 400m wheelchair (T53) event. China's Huzhao Li won the gold in 52:00, with the Thai competitor Pichet Krungget finishing second in 52:84.

In the shooting competition, Abdullah Al Aryani was second in the 10m air rifle (R3), scoring 700.3 points, finishing just behind Lorraine Lambert from Britain, who came first with a total of 700.7 points.

Abdullah Al Hababi won the bronze medal with 700.3 points in the 10m air rifle (R5), where Iran's Akbar Aalipour took gold with 702.4 points, and Britain's Amy Hursthouse took silver with 700.8 points.

The UAE also took silver in the T54 4x100m wheelchair relay, finishing behind Thailand in the race.

Tariq bin Khadim, the Deputy Chairman of the Organising Committee and Chairman of the Executive Committee, commended the outstanding efforts of the athletes, particularly the great achievements of Al Qaid during the tournament.

Bin Khadim said the achievements of the "Knights of Will" are the fruit of our leadership's support of disabled sport, which provided them with all necessary elements to achieve success and excellence.

He added that such achievements will be positively reflected in the progress of the national teams in their preparations for new challenges, with a particular focus on the Paralympic Games in London 2012.

The IWAS World Games 2011 is the most important event for preparation and qualification before the team's appearance in London next summer.

* Compiled by The National staff with agency