Abdulla Alaryani of United Arab Emirates during the Men's R1-10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 final at the London 2012 Paralympic Games
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Abdulla Alaryani won the UAE’s only gold medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games in the 50m rifle prone SH1, becoming only the second person from his country ever to win Paralympic gold.
He scored 694.8 points to claim victory over Juan Antonio Reinaldo of Spain by just 0.2 points at London’s Royal Artillery Barracks.
Alaryani was a member of the UAE’s able-bodied shooting team in 2000, but he was seriously injured in a car crash in 2001 leaving him paralysed below the waist.
The 42-year-old returned to competition as para-athlete at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, just missing out on the air rifle prone SH1 final by a single place.
This, he explains made him very focussed for London.
“From the day I finished the last Paralympic Games I started immediately planning for this one,” he said.
In January 2013, he was awarded a National Individual Athlete Award at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Creative Sports Awards, for his exploits at the London Games.
From what started out as an inherited hobby that turned into a professional sporting career, Alaryani remains far from retiring, citing in an interview post-London his intentions to prepare for Rio 2016.
“I will start preparing for the next Games in Rio of course,” he said.
“Before then, there are many World Cups and many competitions and I’m committed to doing well in those and winning more medals for my country.”
