Rabat – Moroccan para-athletes Youssra Karim and Hayat El Garaa have secured today, September 1, two new medals for the country at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympic Games.
In the discus throw F41 event, Youssra Karim and Hayat El Garaa won, respectively, the silver and bronze medals.
Youssra Karim, the silver medalist at the 2019 World Championships in Dubai, threw 37.3 5m to finish in second place, just ahead of Tunisia’s Raoua Tlili – gold medalist at Rio 2016 – who broke the world record with a throw of 37.91 m.
The 24-year-old started her career in the para-powerlifting discipline before moving to para-athletics. “I wanted to win a Paralympic medal and decided to switch from Para powerlifting to Para athletics,” she told the official site of the Olympic games.
Hayat El Garaa, meanwhile, made a performance of 29.30 m to secure the bronze medal for the North African country.
The two Moroccan para-athletes also participated in the shot put final, however, they did not place among the top three. Tunisian Raoua Tlili won the gold medal of the event.
This is the third medal won by Morocco at these ongoing games, after Saida Amoudi’s bronze medal.
Morocco has also secured at least one spot in the 400m event. Two Moroccans out of four runners will compete in the final. Mahdi Afri and Abdeslam Hili will represent Morocco at the event.
Mahdi Afri will run for the second time in the Paralympic Games after Rio 2016 where he won two medals; silver at the 400m event and bronze at the 200m event.
Meanwhile, this is Abdeslam Hili’s first participation in the Paralympics, however, he is among the favorites to win gold after his performance at the 2019 World Championships where he broke the world record.
The two champions will now compete to offer Morocco its first gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.
