UAE shooter Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani wins his second silver medal at Rio Paralympics

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Abdullah Sultan Al Aryani won his and the UAE’s second silver medal at the Paralympic Games in Rio yesterday when he finished as runner-up in the R7 men’s 50-metre rifle three positions SH1 competition.

The Emirati finished with a total of 451.6 points in the final, but was beaten by 2.1 points by Serbian Laslo Suranji.

Al Aryani had led after the kneeling and prone elements of the contest, but was out-scored by Suranji in the standing part.

The success came after Al Aryani had already taken a silver in the R1 10m air rifle standing SH1 contest on the opening day of action in Brazil on Thursday.

He has one more chance to add to add to his medal collection, with the R6 mixed 50m rifle prone SH1 tomorrow, where he will be looking to repeat his gold medal success from the London Games four years ago.

There were two other Emiratis taking part in the event yesterday too, with Abdulla Saif Al Aryani finishing in fifth place with a score of 415.6, while Obaid Al Dahmani had not reached the final after being placed 17th in the qualification round.

In today’s action, Maryam Al Matrooshi is first up in action as she compete in the F45/46 women’s javelin, which is due to begin at 6pm.

Then Haifa Naqbi represents the UAE in the women’s 86kg powerlifting, which starts at 8pm UAE time.

Elsewhere, a small, unmanned hot-air balloon crashed into the roof of one of the areas in Rio’s Olympic Park yesterday, causing minor fire and water damage but with no reported injuries.

Rio organising committee spokesman Mario Andrada said the balloon was likely launched from one of the city’s favelas and hit the Carioca 3 Arena.

Andrada said “firefighters used a lot of water, and water spilled into the field of play”.

The balloon struck yesterday morning. Officials were able to repair the damage ahead of a wheelchair fencing.

* With agency