Paris Paralympics: Arab athletes dominate women's discus throw F41 final

Tunisia's Raoua Tlili wins gold while Morocco's Youssra Karim clinches silver

Raoua Tlili of Tunisia celebrates winning gold in the women's discus F41 final. Getty Images

Tunisia's Raoua Tlili clinched gold in the women's discus throw F41 on Wednesday as Arab athletes dominated the track and field event at the Paris Paralympics.

Tlili grabbed the top spot with a season best throw of 36.55m, finishing just ahead of Morocco's Youssra Karim who took home silver with a throw of 36.46m. Estefany Lopez of Ecuador clinched bronze with an effort of 30.89m.

Morocco's Hayat El Garaa (29.74m) and Tunisia's Samar Ben Koelleb (28.63m) also impressed as four Arab athletes finished among the top five in the final.

Tunisian Tlili continued her remarkable record at the Paralympics. Earlier, she won her fifth consecutive gold medal in shot put at her fifth Paralympics. Tlili's throw of 10.40m at the Stade de France secured victory in the F41 class for a third straight Games.

However, there was disappointment for the UAE as Maryam Al Zeyoudi finished last with an effort of 17.45m.

Earlier, UAE's Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani missed out on a podium finish in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 final.

Al Aryani finished sixth in the final with a score of 409.5, as Jin-ho Park of South Korea grabbed gold with 454.6 points. It was a disappointing result for Al Aryani who was competing in his fifth Games. He had won gold in his second attempt at London 2012 and followed it up with three silvers at Rio and another gold in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Sarah Storey extended her record as the most successful British Paralympian, winning the women's C5 time trial at the Paris Games to claim her 18th gold medal.

It was 46-year-old Storey's 13th Paralympic gold medal in cycling, with the other five won in swimming. She overtook swimmer Mike Kenny's record of 16 Paralympic golds in Tokyo.

Storey completed the course in 20 minutes and 22.15 seconds, beating French silver medallist Heidi Gaugain by more than four seconds.

The win took Storey's total Paralympic medal tally to 29, with 16 being won in swimming between 1992-2004.

"I’m very happy. I am over the moon. But I know that there’s always ways to improve things," Storey said.

"This is the shortest Paralympic time trial we’ve ever had and I think it’s a real shame because you don’t get to showcase parasport in the way that you want to."