#Paralympics2016: Tunisia in tenth place, as Arab athletes shine

#Paralympics2016: Tunisia in tenth place, as Arab athletes shine
Arab athletes have already claimed 35 medals so far at the Rio Paralympics, with Tunisia leading the charge making it to tenth place in the medals' table.
2 min read
12 Sep, 2016
Leading the Arab nations in the medal table is Tunisia with nine medals [Getty]

Arab athletes have already claimed 35 medals so far at the Rio Paralympics, with still another week at go at the Games.

Leading the Arab medal table is Tunisia with nine medals - including four gold - and sitting in tenth place in medal' tables.

Following closely behing are Algeria's elite disabled athletes with another nine medals - but just one gold - with Egypt winning six medals, Iraq and Morocco with three, while Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia each have a medal.

On Sunday, Qatar's Abdulrahman Abdulqadir won the Gulf state its first medal in Paralympics history when he took home a silver medal in the men's shot put F34.

Abdulqadir missed out on taking the top spot after Moroccan Azeddine Nouiri made a throw of 11.28 metres to claim the title for himself.

The Qatari athlete will continue his quest for gold on Friday in the men's javelin event.

Saudi Arabia's Hani Alnakhli won a bronze medal in the men's shot put F33 on Saturday after losing to Algerian Kamel Kardjena.

Egyptian powerlifter Fatma Omar won the silver medal in the women's -61kg event on Sunday.

This was the first time Omar has taken a silver at the Paralympics as the five-time medalist has won four consecutive gold medals at the Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London Games.

The 42-year-old mother of two has been powerlifting since the age of 19, and not allowed the effects of polio - diagnosed aged one - hold her back in the sport.

In London, Omar dedicated her gold to her home country, saying: "I am so happy and thrilled to win the gold medal. I am glad I lifted Egypt's name high today."

The Games at Rio still have another week to go, let's hope more Arab athletes can make their fans back home proud.