UAE athletes top Arab medals table

The sixth edition of the IWAS World Games wrapped up in Sharjah yesterday with the UAE's athletes being able to add another five medals to their tally on the closing day, bringing the total number of medals for the host country to 42 (eight gold, 15 silver and 19 bronze), putting it at the head of the list of participating Arab countries for the event. The event, which attracted 49 countries and more than 900 participants, was a resounding success. The Games saw 11 new world records set over the course of the six competition days, in addition to 53 continental records — nine African, 28 Asian, nine European and seven Oceania, with the latter all set by Australians. Medal winners In the javelin wheelchair event on the final day, the UAE's Hassan Malaleih, Asian games gold medallist in Guangzhou, and his teammate Ahmad Al Housani took gold and silver, respectively, with throws of 19.66 and 16.02 metres. Bronze went to Kuwait's Ahmad Al Mutairi, with a throw of 15.60 metres. In the discus wheelchair, the UAE's Mohammad Al Habshi came third with a throw of 21.55 metres, behind Bulgaria's Mustafa Yuseinov, who took gold with a throw of 33.93 metres and his teammate Ruzhdi Ruzhdi who grabbed silver with a throw of 30.10 metres. In the javelin wheelchair, Mohammad Al Muhairi threw 24.75 metres to take the bronze, behind Iranian Mohsin Kaeidi, who came first with a throw of 35.93 metres and Qatar's Abdul Abdul Rahman, who was second with 30.11 metres. In the shot put, the UAE's Hassan Banihammad clinched the bronze with a throw of 5.79 metres, behind Poland's Tomasz Paulinski, who took gold with 11.31 metres, and Iraq's Jabbar Al Azzawi who won silver with 11.30 metres. The UAE champions set seven Asian records, including the two world and Asian records broken by Al Qaid, and another Asian one in 800 metres, in a time of 1:51.41 minutes.