Outstanding athletes from over 32 countries competed on the opening day of the Special Olympics IX MENA Games in Abu Dhabi.

Dignitaries and honored guests handed out gold, silver and bronze medals as well as participation medals to the athletes as their friends, family and compatriots cheered and applauded.

The UAE topped the medals charts in cycling winning a total of six in a series of races held at the Yas Marina Circuit, including golds in Divisions 2 and 4 of the men’s 5km time trial.

More than 20 Special Olympians from eight countries strapped on their roller skates to compete in the 30m straight line, 100m, 300m and 2x100m relay races.

At the awards ceremony, Emirati Khalifa Ahmed Alamiri proudly wore his tally of three medals in roller-skating around his neck.
Khalifa took home gold in his division of the 2x100m relay, silver in the 100m and bronze in the 300m.

Aya Esmail from Syria, Tinhinane Tamzait from Algeria and Seyed Saeid Eilali from Iran won Gold in Divisions 1, 2 and 3 respectively in the 30m straight line.

A series of exciting 300m races saw Emiratis Aysha Alnuaimi and Sayah Alhabash, Egyptians Shahd Nasser Soliman and Sherif Mohamed Abdelhamid Nada, and Jordanians Abdallah Alnahhas and Yousef Yousef all take home gold medals for claiming victory in their divisions.

Aya Esmail from Syria, a winners in one of the 30m straight line races, said: “I have been practicing for the last year with my coach to be part of this wonderful game and that hard work has paid off today.”

Syrian Nejmeh Al Amouri was making her debut in the powerlifting competition. The 16-year-old athlete won a silver medal for squat lifting 60kg in division F2.

In athletics, Egyptian Aya Salah Abdulrahman celebrated winning a gold medal in the 200 meters Division 3.

More than 1,000 athletes from 32 countries have travelled to Abu Dhabi to take part in MENA IX Games, which is the first major sporting event ahead of Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019.