The UAE’s Mohammad Al Hammadi has dedicated his World Para-athletics Championship silver and bronze medals to his teammate Abdullah Hayayei, who was killed in a freak training accident in London last week.
Al Hammadi won a silver in the T34 400-metres at the event in London on Tuesday to add to his earlier bronze in the 100-metres on Saturday, and said: “This is for my brother Abdullah.”
Hayayei, 36, was killed on July 11, just days ahead of the event, which takes place from July 14-23, after he was struck on the head by a falling discus cage in an official training session at Newham Leisure Centre in the British capital.
Hayayei’s funeral took place on Wednesday, July 19, in his native Fujairah, and the UAE team vowed to stay on in London to honour their teammate by bringing home as many medals as possible.
The UAE now have a total two medals so far thanks to Al Hammadi. Al Hammadi finished second to Tunisia’s Walid Ktila (50.56) but ahead of Finland’s Henry Manni (52.24) in the 400-metres in a time of 50.94. And ended up third behind Ktila (15.00) and Australia’s Rheed McCracken (15.40) in the 100-metres with a time of 15.75.
