Team Pakistan have registered themselves on the medal tally of the Paris Paralympic Games 2024 and the man that helped the South Asian nation to achieve the feat is, yet again, Haider Ali.
Ali claimed a bronze on Friday with a third-place finish in the men's discus throw in the F37 classification. This became Pakistan's first medal at the Paris Paralympics. It will remain the only medal for Team Pakistan as Ali was the only participant from the South Asian nation.
This is not Ali's first Paralympics medal. In fact, he has won Paralympic medals not just in multiple edition of the Games but also in two different disciplines. At the Asian Para Games, Ali has managed to win medals in four different disciplines.
Here is a short profile of Pakistan's greatest para athlete of all time, Haider Ali.
Who Is Haider Ali?
Haider Ali was born in Pakistan's Gujranwala in December 1984. Born with Cererbral Palsy, Ali's sporting potential was discovered at a training camp in Faisalabad in 2005.
He broke into the national para athletics team in 2006.
"In January 2006, the trials for the Pakistan national Para athletics team were held in Islamabad and I eventually made it to the team. There was no looking back after that," Ali said.
Within three years, Ali competed in his first Paralympics in Beijing and scripted history by becoming the first Pakistani ever to win a medal at the Paralympic Games. He won the silver medal in the men's F36/37 long jump event.
He competed in three more events in Beijing Paralympics but could not get to the podium.
Troubled by a hamstring injury, Ali could not win a medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He had participated in the long jump and 100m sprint.
Four years later, in Rio de Janiero, Ali was the flagbearer of Pakistan and returned with a bronze medal in the long jump event.
The Hamstring injury forced Ali to shift to discus throw from long jump. In the discus throw F37, he won a gold in Tokyo. This was Pakistan's first ever gold medal at the Paris Paralympics.
On Friday, Ali won his fourth Paralympics medal and the second in discus throw, by clinching a bronze.
At the Para Asian Games, Ali's record is even more outstanding. He has won four gold medals and two bronze at the Para Asian Games. He has won medals in discus throw, javelin throw, 100m sprint and long jump at the Asian Para Games.
His idol is the sprinting great Usain Bolt. "[Usain] Bolt has shown the world that nothing is impossible," he said. "Despite coming from an unprivileged background, he achieved what nobody else in sprint and track could accomplish. He makes us believe in our dreams and that hard work and perseverance always pay off."
