Doha: Carrying Qatar’s hopes in Paris, Sara Masud and Ali Arshad are hoping to clinch medals at the 2024 Paralympic Games which will get underway with the opening ceremony tomorrow. Sara will take her extensive experience to the women’s shot put in the multisport extravaganza while Ali will hope to shine on the mega stage in wheelchair racing events after excelling in the continental competitions. Sara, who vies in F33 class, will hope to upgrade her silver medal she claimed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro – becoming the first Qatari female athlete to clinch a medal at Paralympics.
Apart from her feat in Paralympics, the 38-year-old also won silver medal in the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships held in London besides securing a second finish in the 2018 Asian Para Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ali earned a bronze medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in 2022. The 20-year-old also won a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Asian Para Games in Bahrain the same year.
Qatar delegation is headed by Secretary General of the Qatar Paralympic Federation Dr. Hassan Al Ansari. Team Qatar made its Paralympic Games debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta.
Since then the Al Annabi athletes have won a total of three medals with Abdulrahman Abdulqadir Fiqi (men’s shot put F34) also securing a silver medal at Rio 2016 besides Sara. Also competing in the men’s shot put F34, Abdulrahman Abdulqadir brought a bronze medal for Qatar at the 2.