Maryam Al Zeyoudi and Mohammed Khamis Khalaf both narrowly missed out on medals for the UAE at the Paris Paralympic Games on Saturday.
Al Zeyoudi, one of the UAE's flag-bearers in the opening ceremony on August 28 alongside cyclist Ahmed Al Badwawi, just missed out on a place on the podium as she finished fourth in the women’s F40 shot put final at the Stade de France on Saturday.
She threw an area best 8.62m throw to finish behind Lara Baars of the Netherlands, who took gold with a Paralympic record 9.10m effort. Poland's Renata Sliwinska took silver with a season's best 9.00m, while Tunisia's Raja Jebali won bronze after equalling her season's best with a throw of 8.66m. Oman's Sara Al Anburi finished in 11th place with a season's best of 4.48m.
Al Zeyoudi’s effort was as close as the Emirati Paralympic team came to winning a medal after their star shooter Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani finished sixth in the 50m Rifle 3 positions.
Earlier, Al Zeyoudi had finished 12th in the F40 discus throw finals. It was her second Paralympics after 2020 Tokyo.
The 26-year-old had previously won shot put gold in the World Championships in 2024 Kobe and a gold and silver in the discus and shot put at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Her two efforts at Paris stand as her best results in the Paralympics.
Later in the day, Khalaf also finished fourth in the powerlifting 80-kilogram final with a best lift of 210kg.
Panpan Yan of China took gold with a Paralympic record lift of 242kg. Mohamed El Elfat (224kg) of Egypt and Ukrainian Yurii Babynets (214kg) took home the silver and bronze respectively.
Khalaf, 55, was on his sixth appearance in the Paralympic Games, being the first Emirati Paralympian to win gold, at 2004 Athens. He followed that up with silver in 2008 Beijing and clinched a second gold at 2016 Rio.
Maryam Al Dhanhani went down to Khatira Ismiyeva of Azerbaijan in the women’s judo 70-kilogram J1 in the round of 16.
Khatira won by Ippon after 18 seconds at the Champ de Mars Arena. Al Dhanhani had scored a Waza-ari after eight seconds.
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Date started: 2018
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
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Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
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The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
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Creator: Jenna Lamia
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Sector: Technology
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How to play the stock market recovery in 2021?
If you are looking to build your long-term wealth in 2021 and beyond, the stock market is still the best place to do it as equities powered on despite the pandemic.
Investing in individual stocks is not for everyone and most private investors should stick to mutual funds and ETFs, but there are some thrilling opportunities for those who understand the risks.
Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, says the 20 best-performing US and European stocks have delivered an average return year-to-date of 148 per cent, measured in local currency terms.
Online marketplace Etsy was the best performer with a return of 330.6 per cent, followed by communications software company Sinch (315.4 per cent), online supermarket HelloFresh (232.8 per cent) and fuel cells specialist NEL (191.7 per cent).
Mr Garnry says digital companies benefited from the lockdown, while green energy firms flew as efforts to combat climate change were ramped up, helped in part by the European Union’s green deal.
Electric car company Tesla would be on the list if it had been part of the S&P 500 Index, but it only joined on December 21. “Tesla has become one of the most valuable companies in the world this year as demand for electric vehicles has grown dramatically,” Mr Garnry says.
By contrast, the 20 worst-performing European stocks fell 54 per cent on average, with European banks hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic, while cruise liners and airline stocks suffered due to travel restrictions.
As demand for energy fell, the oil and gas industry had a tough year, too.
Mr Garnry says the biggest story this year was the “absolute crunch” in so-called value stocks, companies that trade at low valuations compared to their earnings and growth potential.
He says they are “heavily tilted towards financials, miners, energy, utilities and industrials, which have all been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic”. “The last year saw these cheap stocks become cheaper and expensive stocks have become more expensive.”
This has triggered excited talk about the “great value rotation” but Mr Garnry remains sceptical. “We need to see a breakout of interest rates combined with higher inflation before we join the crowd.”
Always remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future returns. Last year’s winners often turn out to be this year’s losers, and vice-versa.