Athletics

The UAE’s Maryam Alzeyoudi set a new F40 Asian record in the women’s shot put F40/41, beating Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Renata Sliwinska of Poland, also an F40 athlete, to the gold.

Alzeyoudi threw 8.40m compared to Sliwinska’s 8.14m.

Ecuador’s Estefany Lopez, the only T41 thrower in the field, claimed the bronze.

Algeria’s Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Walid Ferhah threw 38.08m in the men’s club throw to take victory and a new African record.

In the women’s club F32/51 another Pole, Roza Kowakowska (1096 points), went one better than her teammate and repeated her performance from Tokyo 2020 to bag gold.

The UAE duo of Noura Alktebi (892 points) and Thekra Alkaabi (847 points) were the silver and bronze medallists. Alktebi also set an Asian record with her 21.36m effort.

Other regional records set on day one included South Africa’s Kerwin Noemdo with a 16.13m in the men’s shot put F46 and the USA’s Madison Hahs in the women’s 800m T37 (3:19.11).

India’s Praveen Kumar (1031 points), the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist from the men’s high jump T44 was the victor in the same event in Vila Real de Santo Antonio on Saturday. His T47 teammate and fellow podium finisher from last year’s Paralympics, Nishad Kumar (943 points), took the silver.

Lukasz Maciej Mamczarz (859 points) secured bronze for Poland.

Some athletics events are mixed classed meaning that the results are decided by a points system.

Swimming

Kazakhstan’s Rio 2016 Paralympic champion Zulfiya Gabadullina (566 points) settled for silver in the women’s 100m freestyle.

An S4 swimmer, Gabadullina finished second to her S6 teammate Natalya Zvyagintseva (628 points) who led a trio of Kazakh swimmers onto the podium.

Alina Dubibina (533 points) left with bronze.

Estonia’s Susannah Kaul (S10, 774 points) was the victor in the women’s 100m backstroke, with Zvyagintseva (526 points) going on to grab silver.

Another Kazakh swimmer, Oksana Ityakova (S6, 304 points), rounded off the top three.

In the men’s 100m backstroke Latvian Paralympian Jurijs Semjonovs (S8, 627 points) stepped onto the top of the podium.

Nineteen-year-old Ecuadorian Erick Tandazo (S9, 543 points) saw his name up in lights with silver. Japan’s Kaoru Kondo, also 19, completed the top three with bronze (S7, 380 points).

Semjonovs ended day one as a double gold medallist, also collecting a win in the men’s 100m freestyle.

All events at the IWAS World Games are mixed class, meaning that results are decided on a points system.

Powerlifting

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) dominated on day one of powerlifting.

Saif Zaabi lifted 155kg to secure victory in the men’s up to 72kg. Zaabi bested Ecuador’s silver medallist Recalde Jobanny by 8kg.

The USA’s Joshua Jundt was third with a best and final lift of 95kg.

Abdullah Alnaqbi lifted nearly more than double his own bodyweight to claim pole position in the men’s up to 107kg.

His second lift of 207kg was enough to secure gold ahead of Iago Gorgodze who pushed 180kg to secure silver.

Khaled Alhammadi picked-up another bronze for the UAE.

In the women’s, Haifa Alnaqbi built towards her gold medal-winning lift of 87kg in the women’s up to 67kg. Two Georgians – Natela Gamidova and Nino Sabashvili – were the respective silver and bronze medallists.

About the IWAS World Games

Powerlifting is being broadcast live at the IWAS Facebook page, alongside live results here.

Swimming results are available after the end of competition each day here.

Athletics results are published here.

Pictures are available for editorial and social media use here.

Designed to give aspiring Paralympians and emerging athletes their first taste of international competition, the Games have helped produce many of the world’s big name stars.

It is the formula of established athletes competing against the next generation that makes the IWAS World Games so unique and helped it to develop into one of the world’s largest sporting events for athletes with physical impairments.