Gulf Times
Jakarta – Indonesia: When Nasser Al Sahoti carried
Qatar’s flag at the opening ceremony of the Asian Para Games Jakarta 2018, he
was leading a Team Qatar that traveled to Indonesia with the goal of building
on recent international successes.
Al Sahoti
and teammates will be hoping to replicate the same form that won Team Qatar two
silver medals in the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympics Games and five medals (three
gold and two bronze) in the Incheon Asian Para Games 2014 four years before.
“We have had
an outstanding success in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games as well as the previous
Asian Para Games in South Korea and we are highly motivated for Jakarta. Our
athletes trained hard and will do their best to win more medals for Team
Qatar,” said Ameer Al Mulla, Executive Manager of Qatar Paralympic Committee.
Team Qatar
boasts seven track and field athletes, including Paralympic medalist Abdulrahman
Abdulqadir who became Qatar’s first athlete to win a medal in any sport at the
Paralympic Games when he claimed silver in the shot-put at the 2016 Paralympic
Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Abdulrahman
Abdulqadir is also the shot-put gold medal holder from the 2017 World Para
Athletics Championships in London as well as the Asian Para Games 2014.
To add to a long list of honors for the 30-year-old, He was Qatar’s flagbearer
at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
The track
and field team also features Sara Masoud who won silver in the women’s event of
shot put in Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Like Abdulqadir, Masoud made history by
becoming the first female Qatari athlete to win a medal at the Paralympic
Games.
Masoud, who
made her senior international debut in 2011, won gold medal in shot put and
discus throw in the 2014 Asian Para Games before claiming silver in the 2017
World Para Athletics Championships.
Flagbearer
Al Sahoti will not be undertaking that honor for the first time as he carried
the maroon flag at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Pan Arab Games on home
soil.
At 46 years
of age, the athlete who competes in discus throw and javelin throw has bags of
experience in major tournaments, having represented Qatar in the 2004 and 2008
Paralympic Games as well as five world championships. He also claimed the first
medal for Qatar in IPC
Athletics
World Championships when he won a javelin throw bronze in Assen, Netherlands in
2006.
Another Team
Qatar athlete who will be looking to defend a medal from the previous edition
of Asian Para Games is Mohammed Rashid Al Kubaisi who competes in the 100m and
800m races.
Besides
winning bronze medal in the 100m race in Incheon, Al Kubaisi’s best career
achievements include carrying the Qatari flag at the opening ceremony of the
Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Al Kubaisi
and fellow track wheelchair teammate Khaled Hamad Al Hajeri warmed up for the
Asian Para Games with a training camp in Poland from July 20 to August 15.
Shot-put
athlete Mohammed Al Abd and javelin thrower Dabyas Al Dosari, who both competed
previously in the World Para Athletics Championships, make up the rest of Team Qatar’s
track and field squad.
Meanwhile,
Team Qatar’s goalball squad comprises six players and will be targeting to mark
their achievement of participating in the competition with a strong performance.
The team had a memorable involvement in the inaugural West Asian Para Games in
2017 by claiming the bronze medal.
Hosted in
the Indonesian capital under, the third Asian Para Games will take place from
October 6 -13 under the slogan “Inspiring the Spirit and Energy of Asia.