Proud moments for Pakistan as Haider Ali for Pakistan won the Gold. Paralympian Haider Ali with a top podium finishes in the discus throw 55.26 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics on Friday.
In his fifth attempt out of six, Haider Ali threw a 55.26 meters throw to score the best-ever distance.
Ukrainian Zhabnyak bagged the Silver medal with a 52.43 meters throw and the bronze medal was bagged by the Brazilian Teixeira de Souza with a 51.86 throw.
How Ali managed to Showup in Paralympics 2020 for Pakistan
It was a hard time to reach the podium. Everything was messed up because of the pandemic. Time management was tough but the coach has a strong belief that we will make it through.
Ali said along with uncertainty in the training, the next disappointment was the lack of support from the government of Pakistan to help the para-athletes travel to Tokyo.
Ali stated that
“Training was a challenge, but when there came a time to participate in the completion, we faced so many issues to get to Tokyo alone. These were issues from the government,”
Haider Ali holds two medals in Rio and Beijing. He had won a silver in Beijing and a Bronze medal in Rio in the long jump event for Pakistan.
His Appeal to the Government of Pakistan
Ali appeals to the government to study the problems and exposure we (athletes) are facing.
“My appeal to the Government of Pakistan is that Paralympics is the biggest event in the world, and to even get here and participate here is an honor. I have even won medals for the country. But the request is that the Paralympians should get equal support, which the Olympians get so that we can also train better, compete in a better way, give better results and make Pakistan proud. I am grateful to NPC, because of them I am where I am today. Because of the efforts by the NPC, I am in Tokyo today.”
This is not the first time that any participant in the event had said that. Talha Talib was the recent appellant to such issues he faced. It is the prime responsibility of the government to look into the matter.
Although Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan is by itself a great athlete and represented the country on the greatest cricket podium and he can better understand the dilemma facing by these young representations of Pakistan.
