UAE Paralympic Youth Team Secures 8 Medals at Asian Games

UAE's Paralympic team delivered a strong performance at the Asian Youth Para Games in Dubai, collecting eight medals total - one gold, one silver, and six bronze. The team added seven new medals in a single day across multiple sports, showing depth in their Paralympic program as they compete on home soil against 1,500 athletes from 35 countries.

The medal haul started with Thani Al Shehi's bronze in table tennis, but the real surge came later. Hamid Al Balushi led the charge with gold in discus throw, then added silver in club throw. His teammate Matar Al Katbi took bronze in the same club throw event.

Powerlifting proved particularly strong for the UAE squad. Mansour Ali Al Qassab won bronze in the 80kg category in his first major competition, while Abdullah Al Jilani claimed bronze in the 97kg division. Both athletes represent the growing strength of UAE's Paralympic development programs.

Swimming rounded out the medal count with two bronze medals. Yousef Al Murr and Mohsen Al Jabri both reached the podium in different classifications of the 400-meter freestyle, showing the team's range across different disability categories.

The performance puts UAE in solid position as they compete at home in Dubai. Hosting major Paralympic events often boosts home nation results, and UAE is capitalizing on that advantage. The strong showing across five different sports - table tennis, athletics field events, powerlifting, and swimming - suggests their Paralympic program has real breadth rather than just isolated success in single events.

For a relatively small nation, eight medals represents significant achievement at continental level competition. The mix of experienced athletes like Al Balushi winning multiple medals alongside newcomers like Al Qassab shows both current strength and future potential for UAE Paralympic sport.