(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Chinthana Wasala
|
The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Qatar's first female Paralympic medallist Sara Masoud, who made history after winning a silver at the 2016 Rio Games, will be aiming to upgrade her medal when she enters the shot put ring at the Stade de France, in Paris, today.
Masoud, who cleared a distance of 5.39 meters in Brazil to finish in second place behind Algeria's Asmahan Boudjadar in the F33 class of the women's shot put, will be up against a Stellar field in today's contest as she looks forward to bringing home Qatar's first-ever Paralympic Gold medal.
Following the historic win in Rio, the 38-year-old Masoud continued her success with another memorable win, at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, where she clinched a silver medal. Two years later she competed in the same discipline at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai and secured an eighth-place finish.
At the continental level, she won a silver medal at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, proving her consistency as a top-class athlete.
Ahead of today's final, Masoud expressed her desire to win another Paralympic medal, but noted that the competition in Paris will be tougher, with more athletes showing high levels of performance. However, she emphasized her readiness for the event, having undergone intensive training ahead of the 2024 Paralympics.
Coach Waleed Maghmoul expressed his confidence in Masoud's ability to win another medal.
“The training program Sara underwent was successful by all standards, and that she greatly benefited from participating in several competitions over the past few months,” Maghmoul noted, adding that Masoud appears well-prepared to compete strongly for a podium finish despite the presence of an extremely challenging line-up of outstanding athletes.
The reigning world champion in the F33 category, Gilda Cota Vera of Mexico, is the standout performer in today's final. Cota Vera set a 7.77-meter Americas record on her way to winning the gold at the Para Athletics Worlds in Kobe, Japan, in May.
China's Wu Qing, with a personal and season best of 7.54 meters, is another formidable contender who is expected to challenge the favourite Cota Vera. Neutral Para Athlete Svetlana Krivenok is another key athlete, having a personal and season best of 7.49 meters. Rio gold winner Boudjadar, Joanna Oleksiuk (Poland) and Fouzia El Kassioui (Morocco), all with personal bests of over 7 metres, have the potential to make significant impacts in the final standings today.
The F33 class fields athletes with moderately affected movement and coordination across the whole body or affecting part of the body with movement affected to a high degree in the legs. All of them have balance co-ordination problems that challenge throwing consistency.
The competition begins at 8:40pm Qatar time.
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