UAE's Mohamed Al Hammadi claims gold to complete stunning hat-trick of medals

Emirati wins the 800m T34 after earlier bronze and silver in the World Para Athletics Championships

Mohamed Al Haammadi of UAE leads the men's 800m T34 final on his way to gold at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai. EPA

Mohamed Al Hammadi won the UAE's first gold medal with a stunning performance in the Men's 800m T34 - his favourite event - at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.

The gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Paralympics set a new championship record time of 1 minute 44.36 seconds on the final day of the nine-day event on Friday, completing his set of bronze, silver and gold medals.

The Tunisian multiple Paralympic gold medal winner Walid Ktila (1:44:79) took silver and China’s Yang Wang (1:46:04) the bronze.

Al Hammadi, 34, had earlier won silver in the 400m and bronze in the 100m, to account for all three medals for the host nation.

“I am happy and thank everyone who supported me from the bottom of my heart,” said the Emirati, who was also a silver and bronze medal winner at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

“I fought for gold in the 100m and 400m races but I couldn’t. Today, I got this gold for UAE. If my people are happy then I am happy.

“To hear the national anthem and the UAE flag hoisted is what we train so hard for. I sacrificed all my time for this moment and now I’ll see my family after a long time.”

Al Hammadi will take a short break and then continue his preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. “Tokyo will be harder but I will continue my training as all others around the world,” he added.

“Obviously the objective is to be in the medal round. Tokyo will be my third Paralympics and I now know one or two things of how to be at the peak in time for my next major competition.”

China topped the medal table with 59, including 25 golds followed by Brazil (39), Great Britain (28) and the USA (34).

Russia, participating in the championships for the first time after the 2016 doping ban, were sixth on 41 medals.