Arshad finishes seventh in 800m at Paralympics

Qatar’s Ali Arshad finished seventh in the 800m wheelchair race (T34 category) at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Saturday. He clocked a time of 1:41.84 seconds in a high-quality field.
World record holder Austin Smeenk of Canada won gold. At his third Paralympics, it was Smeenk’s first career gold medal and second at these Games. He had earlier secured a bronze in the 100m event. Smeenk clocked 1:39.27 seconds for the win, with Chaiwat Rattana of Thailand taking silver in 1:39.48 and Rheed McCracken of Australia claiming bronze in 1:40.13.
Arshad, competing in his maiden Paralympics, had qualified for the final on Friday with a new personal best of 1:40.36 seconds. However, in the final, he could not improve on his performance and had to be content with seventh place.
The 20-year-old was pleased with his performance in the 800m, especially after taking sixth place in the 100m earlier this week, noting that the competition was very strong during the race. “Every race I participate in is an opportunity to improve my performance and gain more experience, and this result will motivate me to put in more effort in my next participation so that I can climb the podium. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to the technical, medical, and administrative teams working at the Qatar Paralympic Federation for their continuous support throughout my career,” Arshad said.
Dr Hassan al-Ansari, Secretary-General of the Qatar Federation for People with Special Needs and head of the delegation, expressed his pride in Arshad’s results. Al-Ansari stressed that Arshad had shown great levels during the two races, indicating that he has an innate talent and great potential that qualifies him to achieve more successes in future editions of the Paralympic Games. He added that Arshad’s achievement of these positive results demonstrates his commitment and insistence on providing the best to raise the flag of Qatar in international forums.
“We in the Qatari delegation believe that this experience will enhance Ali Arshad’s self-confidence and push him to work harder to achieve more successes in the future. We will continue to support him and all our athletes in order to achieve more successes,” al-Ansari added.
Qatar’s other athlete at the Paralympics, Sarah Masoud, finished ninth in the women’s shot put final on Wednesday. The 2016 Rio Games silver medallist, who threw 5.3m in the event, was disappointed with her performance but vowed to bounce back strongly. “Of course, I was expecting a better result, but it was a very strong field. I will continue to work hard and will return to competitions stronger after overcoming my shortcomings,” she said after the final.