Pakistan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Pakistan competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 7 to 18 September 2016. The country's participation in Rio marked its seventh appearance in the quadrennial event. The delegation consisted of the long jump competitor Haider Ali who qualified for the Games by meeting the required standards for the men's long jump T37 in a March 2016 event held in Dubai. On 13 September, he won Pakistan's second Paralympic medal with a mark of 6.28 metres in his event, placing him third.

Pakistan at the
2016 Summer Paralympics
IPC codePAK
NPCNational Paralympic Committee of Pakistan
in Rio de Janeiro
Competitors1 in 1 sports
Flag bearer Haider Ali
Medals
Ranked 76th
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
1
Total
1
Summer Paralympics appearances

Background

Pakistan has taken part in every Summer Paralympic Games since the 1992 edition in Barcelona. Entering the 2016 competition, the highest number of para-athletes sent by Pakistan was nine to the 2004 Games in Athens and the country had medalled once in athletics.[1] The nation participated in the Rio Summer Paralympics from 7 to 18 September 2016. The National Paralympic Committee of Pakistan qualified three athletes for Rio but financial difficulties in March 2016 meant they only fielded one competitor for the Games.[2] These problems were resolved five months later when the committee appealed to sponsors via Facebook to enable their delegation to be sent to Rio and received funding from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).[3] The sole athlete to represent the country was the long jump competitor Haider Ali. He travelled with his coach Akbar Ali Mughal along with his manager and the Deputy Director Sports of the National Paralympic Committee of Pakistan Amna.[2] Pakistan was one of several countries to send just one athlete to the Rio Paralympic Games.[4] Ali was selected as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony.[5]

Disability classifications
Main article: Disability sport classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[6][7] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.[8]

Medallists
MedalNameSportEventDate
 BronzeHaider AliAthleticsMen's Long Jump T3713 September[9][10]

Athletics
Main article: Athletics at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Haider Ali was 31 years old at the time of the Rio Summer Paralympics and it was his third appearance at the Games. He had previously contested the 2008 and the 2012 editions and won the silver medal in the men's long jump F37–38 at the 2008 Games.[9] Ali qualified for the quadrennial event by meeting the required standards for the men's long jump at the Dubai Rio Paralympics Qualifiers in March 2016.[2] He was classified as FT-37 because the muscles in his right leg are weak from being afflicted by cerebral palsy.[2][9] In an interview with The News International five days before Ali's event, Imran Jamil Shami, the secretary of the National Paralympic Committee of Pakistan, expressed his confidence that the athlete would deliver the best performance of his career.[2] On 13 September[3] he competed in the final of the men's T37 long jump, setting a best mark of 6.28 metres, placing him third and earning the second Paralympic medal in Pakistani history.[10][lower-alpha 1] After the event, the director of the PSB Akhtar Ganjera stressed that Ali's achievement would help promote the Paralympics in Pakistan and inspire many others in the country to compete at the national and international levels.[9]

Men's Field
Athlete Events Result Rank
Haider Ali Long Jump T37 6.28 [10]

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Ali's mark was 0.16 metres less than what he achieved at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.[10]

References
  1. "Pakistan at the Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  2. "Haider to represent Pakistan at Paralympics". The News International. 8 September 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  3. Raheel, Natasha (14 September 2016). "Haider Ali bags bronze for Pakistan in 2016 Paralympics". The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  4. Hale, Laura (9 September 2016). "One and done at the Paralympics: A look at some countries with only one representative at the 2016 Games". Parasport-News. Archived from the original on 21 December 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  5. "Full list of flag bearers for opening ceremony of Rio 2016 Paralympic Games". International Paralympic Committee. 7 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  6. McGarry, Andrew (3 September 2008). "Paralympics categories explained". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  7. "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  8. "A-Z of Paralympic classification". BBC Sport. 28 August 2008. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  9. "Haider wins first medal for Pakistan at Rio Paralympic Games". Dawn. 16 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  10. "Pakistan's Haider Ali wins bronze in Rio". Asian Times. 14 September 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
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