JORDAN AND THE PARALYMPICS
Sep 04, 2016
While Jordan continues to celebrate the achievements of Ahmad Abu Ghaush in winning the Kingdom’s first ever medal at an Olympic Games last month, our attention turns to the Paralympic Games which get underway on Wednesday.
The Kingdom has sent 10 athletes to the event which will also take place in Rio de Janeiro where Abu Ghaush took his historic gold in the taekwondo -68kg category.
But winning medals is nothing new to our Paralympians who travel to South America in confident form.
But glory would signify an upturn in fortune after a disappointing London 2012 where the delegation returned home empty handed.
“We have prepared extremely well for Rio and our athletes are in the best form they can possibly be in,” said experienced former World Champion powerlifter Mu’taz Al Juneidi.
Jordan has won eight Paralympic medals since first participating in 1984, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Paralympic Games since, with the exception of the 1992 summer games.
The first medal, a silver, was won by Imad Gharbawi in the 1996 Atlanta games. In 2000, the country took its first gold medal when Maha Bargouthi won the women's singles table tennis competition.
Two more medals were won at the 2004 Paralympics, a silver in shot put by Jamil Elshebli and a bronze in table tennis by the three-member women's table tennis team (Maha Bargouthi, Kheta Abuawad and Fatmeh Al-Azzam).
In the 2008 Beijing games Jordanian Paralympians won four more medals, two silvers in athletics (Jamil Elshabli) and powerlifting (Omar Qarada), and two bronze medals in powerlifting (Al Juneidi) and table tennis (once again by the three-member women's team Maha Bargouthi, Kheta Abuawad and Fatmeh Al-Azzam.
For Rio there is a good mic of experienced Paralympians and new talent looking to make their mark.
In table tennis, the experienced Al Barghouthi, Abu Awad and Osamah Abu Jame' will all be in with a chance of honours while Belal Yousef competes in the athletics.
A strong powerlifting team will consist of Abdel Karim Khattab, Haidarah Al Kawamleh, Al Junaidi, Jamil Al Shebli, Tharwat Al Hajjaj and Qaradeh.
