Saudi Gazette report

HANGZHOU — The Saudi team concluded their participation in the 4th Asian Para Games “Hangzhou 2022”, by achieving 9 medals, making it the best participation historically for Saudi Arabia since the first edition of the tournament.

During the Hangzhou 2022, Saudi Arabia achieved 2 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and 3 bronze medals, which were clinched by the athletics team, who represented the Kingdom in the tournament, along with 4 teams: goalball, weightlifting, taekwondo, and table tennis.

Saudi runner Thamer Al-Zahrani opened the Saudi medal series in the championship, winning the bronze medal in the 400-meter race (T37 classification), after finishing 3rd with a time of 57.55 seconds.

As for the two gold medals for the Kingdom, they were won by the Saudi runner, Nour Al-Sanaa, who achieved 1st place in the 400m race, with a time of 52.81 seconds, breaking the Asian record, and setting a new world record in the competition.

While the 2nd gold medal was won by Saudi champion Abdulrahman Al-Qurashi, after he achieved 1st place in the 100m wheelchair race (T53 classification) with a time of 56:14 seconds.

With this victory, Al Qurashi surpassed the world champion and champion of the last edition of the Tokyo Games, Thai Pongsakorn, who finished second in Hangzhou 2022. The Saudi champion also broke the record in the Para-Asian Games.

The silver medal went to Saudi jumper Hassan Doshi in the long jump competitions after he came in second place with a distance of 6.80 meters.

Saudi runner Ali Al-Nakhli won two silver medals during the championship, the first was in the 100m race with a time of 11:12 seconds, while he won the second silver in the 200m race with a time of 75:24 seconds for the (T37 classification).

As for the 4th and final silver medal, it was won by Saudi putter Hani Al-Nakhli on the last day of the shot put competitions in the (F33 classification), after he came in 2nd place with a distance of 10.53 meters.

Champion Abdulrahman Al-Qurashi won his 2nd medal in the championship by winning bronze in the 400m wheelchair race, (T53 classification), after coming in the 3rd place with a time of 51.00 seconds.

Runner Nour Al-Sanaa also won a bronze medal during the championship, after coming in third place with a time of 12.07 seconds in the 100m race (classification T44).

It is worth mentioning that the 4th edition of the Para-Asian Games, “Hangzhou 2022”, is considered the best participation for Saudi Arabia, as it ranked 19th in the tournament after the Saudi champions achieved 9 medals.

This participation is considered the best because of its achievement of the largest number of medals in its history in the tournament.

During its participation in the first tournament held in Guangzhou 2010, the Kingdom achieved 6 medals, 1 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze. While in its 2nd participation in incheon, South Korea, in 2014, it won 4 medals, 2 gold and 2 silver.

As for the 3rd edition of the tournament held in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta 2018, the Saudi teams won 8 medals, 2 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze.