Competitions at the Paris Paralympics are underway with athletes from across the globe vying for top honours in multiple disciplines. A total of 4,400 competitors from 168 delegations are taking part in the 11-day fiesta which kicked off on Wednesday. The Games started with an unprecedented Opening Ceremony attended by 30,000 spectators.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared the Games open during a ceremony at Place de la Concorde in central Paris -- the first time a Paralympic Opening Ceremony took place away from the main stadium. A total of 18 of the 35 Olympic venues including the ornate Grand Palais and the Stade de France are being used at the Paralympics. Tickets sales for the Games have witnessed overwhelming response with Paris organisers announcing more than two million of the 2.5 million available have been sold, prior to the Games.
The interest the world is showing in the multi-sport event is a huge morale-booster for the athletes who have reached the stage after surpassing many obstacles. International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons recently said the Paralympics “will have a big impact in how people with disability are perceived around the world”. French swimmer Ugo Didier and Brazilian star Gabrielzinho were among the first athletes to clinch titles as exciting contests continue in Paris.
Qatar also regularly participates in the Paralympics since making its debut in the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta. The Al Annabi athletes have won a total of three medals with Abdulrahman Abdulqadir, who won a bronze medal in the men’s shot put F34 at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, being their last medalist. The 2016 Summer Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro was Qatar’s most successful Games when Sara Masud (women’s shot put) and Abdulrahman claimed silver medals.
Sara – the first Qatari female athlete to win a Paralympics medal for Qatar – is also part of the two-athlete Qatar squad in Paris. The 38-year-old, who also won the silver medals in the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London and 2018 Asian Para Games held in Jakarta, is hoping to claim a gold medal. Ali Arshad, who will take part in the 100m and 800m wheelchair races, is the other Qatari athlete taking part in Paris. He will start his campaign as 100m event gets underway today. Ali Arshad earned a bronze medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games in 2022 beside clinching a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Asian Para Games in Bahrain the same year. The Qatar Paralympic Committee and Qatar Olympic Committee are giving all-out support to both the athletes to shine in Paris.
