Ammar Ali

Ammar Ali is on a mission to avenge his Paralympic silver from last time out, and he seems in pole position to do so ahead of Tokyo 2020.

The epee B specialist has had an outstanding 2018-19 World Cup season. He won both events at the World Cups in Tbilisi, Georgia; and Kyoto, Japan, last year. They were the first competitions in which athletes could earn ranking points toward the 2020 Paralympics.

Ali went on to add another World Cup gold in July, putting him at No. 3 in the world. 

His toughest competitor is rising British fencer Dimitri Coutya, who won the epee title at the last World Championships in 2017; Ali could not defend his 2015 title and finished with the bronze medal. 

But it was Ali’s victory from 2015 in Eger, Hungary, that made him the favourite at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Unfortunately the script was flipped, as the epee fencer fell to Belarus’ Andrei Pranevich by one point. It was a heart-breaking defeat for Ali, who was determined to go for gold after his Paralympic debut at London 2012 where he finished sixth.

Ali picked up the sport in 2008 at 23 years old when he was recommended to try it out. He made his international debut in 2010.