Paralympian Haider Ali bags historic gold for Pakistan
Making the country proud, Paralympian Haider Ali has claimed gold medal for Pakistan in the discus throw event at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
With the throw of 55.26 meters in his fifth attempt out of total six, Haider finished at the top of the competition.
Ukraine’s Zhabnyak claimed silver medal with a 52.43-meter throw while bronze was bagged by Brazilian Teixeira de Souza.
Haider Ali was playing for the F37 category of men’s discus throw event as it is the first ever gold for Pakistan in any Paralympic Games.
Earlier, Haider Ali has won two medals in long jump event–a silver in Beijing in 2008 and a bronze in Rio in 2016.
While talking to Dialogue Pakistan on Sunday, the athlete said he was not sure about whether he was going to participate in the Paralympic games or not because the tickets had not been arranged until few days before their scheduled arrival in Tokyo.
“Earlier, I had won two medals in long jump but now I am competing for discus throw for the first time,” Haider told Dialogue Pakistan few days ago.
He then added that it would be a tough competition for him. Expressing his concerns, Haider said that national Paralympics did not get enough attention and support which was impacting the future of para-athletes in the country.
