PARIS: The duo Ali Arshad and Sarah Masoud will raise Qatar's flag at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, which kicks off on Wednesday in the French capital, Paris, and will continue until September 8.
The 17th edition of the Paralympic Games will see the participation of up to 4,400 athletes from all over the world.
The Qatari mission, headed by Secretary-General of the Qatar Paralympic Federation Dr Hassan Al Ansari, recently arrived in the French capital, Paris, to undergo the final stage of preparations before the competitions start.
The Qatari mission includes player Ali Arshad and his coach Nabil Al Musalmani, player Sarah Masoud and her coach Walid Maghmoul, in addition to Anis Boughmoura, a physiotherapist, and Mohammed Suhail, the technical expert of the federation.
Ali Arshad will participate in the 100m and 800m wheelchair races, while Sarah Masoud will participate in the women's shot put competitions.
Ali Arshad will begin competing on Sep 1, where he will participate in the 100-meter race qualifiers, while Sarah Masoud will begin her first shot put competition on Sep. 5.
Ali Arshad won the bronze medal in the 100-meter wheelchair race at the Asian Games (Hangzhou 2022), and he also won fourth place in the 400-meter wheelchair race, and seventh place in the 100-meter race at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan this year, and won the silver medal in the 100-meter wheelchair race and the bronze medals in the 200-meter and 400-meter wheelchair races at the third West Asian Paralympic Games in Bahrain.Sarah Masoud meanwhile won the silver medal in the shot put competition at the Paralympic Games (Rio 2016), and she also won the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships held in the English capital, London, in 2017, and won the gold medal in shot put and discus throw at the Asian Paralympic Games (Incheon 2014), the silver medal in shot put at the Asian Games (Jakarta 2018), the silver medals in discus throw and javelin throw, and the bronze medal in shot put at the third West Asian Paralympic Games (Bahrain 2022), in addition to the silver medals in discus throw and shot put and the bronze medal in javelin throw at the West Asian Paralympic Games /Sharjah 2024/.
Dr Hassan Al Ansari, head of the Qatari mission participating in the Paralympic Games ( Paris 2024 ), stressed that the main goal of Qatari participation in this major sporting event is to raise the Qatari flag high on the podiums, especially in light of the successes achieved by the players for people with special needs in the recent editions of the Paralympic Games and in the World Championships for people with special needs.
He said that the players have completed their preparations to participate in this session by attending several internal and external training camps, stressing at the same time that the Federation has developed an intensive training program for the players to reach their readiness to the level that qualifies them to ascend the podiums and write a new chapter in the chapters of Qatari successes at the global level.
The Paralympic Games hosted by France will witness competitions in 22 individual and team sports, namely archery, athletics, badminton, goalball, boccia, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, judo, weightlifting, rowing, shooting, volleyball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, basketball, fencing, rugby and tennis.