São Paulo – The Arab countries won seven gold medals until this Wednesday morning (1) at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. Ten nations of the region earned medals. In addition to the golds by Tunisia, Jordan, and Algeria, the Arab athletes also won 13 silver and 14 bronze medals, a total of 34.
Tunisia is the best-placed Arab country in the Paralympics so far. The Tunisian athletes won three golds, four silvers, and one bronze, with eight medals in total. The third Tunisian gold was won this Wednesday by Raoua Tlili (pictured above), who was also champion in the previous games in Rio 2016, in the female F41 discus throw, with 37.91 meters, breaking world and Paralympic records, according to the news agency Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP).
Raoua Tlili had already taken first place last week in the shot put. It was Tunisia’s first gold in this edition of the games. She threw the shot at 10.55 meters, also setting a new world record. Tunisia’s other gold came from athlete Walid Ktila in men’s T34 100m track athletics. He took the podium earlier this week and broke his previous record.
Jordanians won three gold medals and one bronze. The first places came from men’s powerlifting, in the +107 kg category, by athlete Jamil Elshebli, 88 kg category, with Abdelkareem Khattab, and 49 kg category, with Omar Qarada.
Algeria, the other Arab country which earned gold in the Paralympics, won it in the 52 kg women’s judo with Cherine Abdellaoui. Algerian athletes also earned two silver and four bronze medals, a total of seven. Algeria is in 45th place in the Paralympics medals table, Jordan in 33rd, and Tunisia in 26th.
The other Arab countries which already won silver or bronze medals at the games were Egypt, in 56th place, Morocco (61st), Iraq (64th), Kuwait (68th), Saudi Arabia (74th), Oman (74th), and the United Arab Emirates (74th). China is first in the medals table, the Russian Paralympic Committee in second, and Great Britain in third. Brazil is in seventh, with 15 golds, 12 silvers, and 21 bronzes.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
