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UAE's Hamda Al Hosani sprints to 100m gold, takes tally to 17

Abu Dhabi - Hamda credits her mother with helping her to discover and develop her talent for athletics

Emirati sprinter Hamda Al Hosani clinched gold in the 100m race making her one of the world's most successful Special Olympics sprinters.
In a hard-fought race, the 29-year-old was chased all of the way by Bahraini athlete Aysha Alsubei. It was a sweet revenge for the Emirati as on Sunday Aysha had won the 200m race whereas Hamda had to settle for silver. Hamda's two medals at this ninth Special Olympics MENA Games takes her overall international medal count to 17.
"I'm now looking forward to the 4x100m relay race on Tuesday," Hamda said with an eye on adding to her tally.
Her mother, Zaafaran, was delighted with her daughter's results.
"Since 2008, Hamda has collected gold medals in many of the races she enters. We had a small hiccup on Sunday but managed to get the silver, and we are very happy today to go back to our winning streak and take first place in the 100m," Zaafaran said. "Hamda and I share every moment together, happy and sad, and we are proud of today's win. Racing against the Bahrain team, the winner doesn't matter - it's a win for the Gulf."
Hamda is passionate towards sports and running. "I enjoy running because I don't like sitting still and I'm very active," said the athlete who trains for two hours a day. "That's what I love about running. If I sit down for a long period of time I feel like my legs are hurting because I just want to run. My favourite event was the LA Games in 2015 where I won a gold medal, there were 180 countries participating. My fastest time is 14 seconds for 100m in Tunisia. In LA I got 15 seconds for the 100m, which was my second best race," Hamda said.
Hamda credits her mother with helping her to discover and develop her talent for athletics.
"When I stopped going to school I stayed at home for a long time. My mother encouraged me to start running and encouraged me to join the Special Olympics UAE team. I joined a number of different teams and tried different sports but now I focus on sprinting. I'd like to encourage everyone with intellectual disabilities to look out for what they're interested in and to do more activities that boost their confidence. I have a friend who played on the basketball team and I encouraged her to join the sprinting team."
Meanwhile, Emirati athletes with determination and their able-bodied colleagues won silver and bronze medals in a double victory for the UAE's unified table tennis couples teams.
The teams, which feature sportsmen with and without intellectual disabilities (ID), were presented with their medals after taking second and third place in the unified couples category on day two of the Special Olympics IX MENA Games 2018 in Abu Dhabi.
Khaled Al Shahi, who has ID, won the silver medal with his able-bodied colleague, Nawaf Al Kaabi, while ID athlete Mohammed Almas was presented with bronze alongside his teammate, Yousef Al Kaabi.