Haidar Ali Wins First Ever Gold Medal for Pakistan in Paralympics, Tokyo 2020
Today, athlete Haidar Ali created history by winning a gold medal for the country in the F37 discus throw competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics games, making him the first Pakistani to do so and making the nation proud. He achieved a 55.26m throw in his fifth of the six total attempts to score the best distance, this distance is also his personal best and it earned him the honor. Securing the second place was Ukrainian Mykola Zhabnyak who scored a distance of 52.43m and won the silver, almost 3 meters less than the gold medalist. Coming in at the third place was Jaoa Victor of Brazil who won the bronze after achieving a throw of 51.86m.
The official twitter handle of Paralympic games took to twitter to congratulate the athlete for scoring his personal best; “It's #Gold for #PAK! F37 discus thrower Haider Ali wins his country's first medal of the Games! His throw of 55.26m is a personal best and almost three meters longer than second place!”. The athlete said that this gold medal would be “very important” for para sports in the country since others would be able to see what can be achieved through hard work and an iron will.
"I hope to be a role model for other people that have a disability [and who] don’t compete in sports to take part in para-sports," he said. He also mentioned that he wishes to be role model figure for those with disabilities so that they don’t lose hope in themselves and play for the country; “I hope to be a role model for other people that have a disability that don’t compete in sport to take part in Para sport."
The embassy of United States also congratulated the gold medalist on their twitter account; “Congratulations to Haider Ali for winning the first-ever Paralympic gold medal for Pakistan! Haider is used to creating history having secured Pakistani's 1st Paralympic games medal (Silver) in 2008. Well, done!”
The pride of the nation was showered with praise on twitter, he was praised by many renowned politicians and celebrities, he also earned the praise of Prime minister of Pakistan also congratulated him; “Congratulations #HaiderAli on winning the first ever Gold Medal for Pakistan in #Paralympics. His discus throws of 55.26m won him the medal, making the whole Pakistan proud”.
Haider, who suffers from cerebral palsy had earlier won a Silver Medal at Beijing Paralympics and a Bronze medal at 2016’s Rio Paralympics. Both in the F37 Long Jump event. The Gold at Tokyo is his third medal in Paralympics, and the country’s first-ever gold medal at the games.
Congratulations Haidar, you’ve made us proud as a nation.
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