Akbar ali

Director General Yasir Pirzada: Haider Ali, Pakistan's only para-athlete participating in the upcoming Paris Paralympics, departed for the French capital along with his coach Akbar Ali on Monday. The opening ceremony scheduled on August 28 will mark the official commencement of the Games after the successful conclusion of the Olympics earlier this month.

Haider, a native of Gujranwala, will represent Pakistan in the F37 category of the discus throw event on September 6. This will be Haider's fifth appearance at the quadrennial event. He won a gold medal in the discus throw at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with a throw of 55.26 meters.

He had bagged a silver medal in the long jump at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and a bronze in the same event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Unfortunately, he didn't compete in the 2012 London Paralympics due to injury.