Pakistan’s Haider Ali clinches bronze medal in Paralympics discus throw

Pakistan’s Haider Ali clinched a bronze medal in the discus throw event at the ongoing Paris Paralympics, while Uzbekistan's athlete secured gold with a throw of 56.03 metres.

According to Express News, Haider Ali, hailing from Gujranwala, achieved his best throw of 52.54 metres in his final attempt.

His first throw measured 52.28 metres, while his second, third, fourth, and fifth attempts were fouls.

Competing in the F37 category, this marks another medal for Haider Ali, who previously won gold in the discus throw at the Tokyo Games with a throw of 52.26 metres.

Haider Ali has a rich history of success, having won a silver medal in the long jump at the 2008 Beijing Games and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. This bronze in Paris is his fourth Paralympic medal overall.

Additionally, Haider has earned a silver medal at the World Para Athletics and boasts four gold and two bronze medals from the Asian Para Games.

In total, he has secured five gold, two silver, and three bronze medals for Pakistan throughout his career.

Previously, Haider did make the world record in the Paralympics long jump too in 2008 and won a silver, losing out to Tunisia's Farhat Chida on a tie-break. He also got a bronze medal in 2016 Rio Games.

So far his record has been impeccable with three medals in five Paralympics. But all of his hard work and achievements have never been recognised on the national level or splashed in the media in Pakistan which is really unfortunate.

On Sunday, both Haider and his coach Akbar Ali Mughal sat down with this correspondent to discuss their experience in Paris at the opening ceremony on August 28 and said their training in Paris so far has been satisfactory.

Haider's event is scheduled for September 6.

Unlike the Paris Olympics ceremony, which was held amid rain showers, the Paralympics opening ceremony was more enjoyable to the athletes as the weather was clear, with a beautiful sunset in the background - from Champs Elysees to La Concorde.

"Alhamdulilah, it was such a great experience because of the venue that they had chosen," Haider told this correspondent. "Mainly because I got to interact with my fans and all the sports lovers who were there. The venue was nice, and there was a lot of anticipation for this mega event.

Mughal also agreed with Haider and said that he was expecting the same kind of venue and arrangement for the Paralympics ceremony as it was for the Olympics and they were quite good.

However, his favourite part was the way ceremony went big on inclusivity.