Omar Qarada of Jordan won the first gold medal in the powerlifting competition at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with victory in the men’s -49kg category at the Tokyo International Forum on Thursday morning.
The 40-year-old from Amman managed to lift 173kg on his third attempt to claim top spot ahead of world record holder and Rio 2016 champion Le Van Cong from Vietnam.
Cong also managed 173kg but Qarada was declared the winner due to having a body weight 100g lighter than his opponent (47.21kg to 47.31kg).
It was Jordan's second ever Paralympic gold medal and Qarada’s first after he managed two silvers at Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016.
Parvin Mammadov of Azerbaijan won the bronze medal with a lift of 156kg.
Elsewhere, Jordanian athletes had more disappointing results, with Khetam Abu Awad losing her table tennis women’s singles match 3-1 (13-11, 5-11, 11-5, 11-8) to Caroline Tabib of Israel.
Faten Elelimat also lost her table tennis women’s singles match, by a score of 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7) to the Brazilian Joyce Oliveira.
