Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Patron of the Award, honours Abdullah Sultan Al Ariani with the Award.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award, a Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiative, has wished success to Emirati and Arab para athletes, who will be competing at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which opened on Tuesday and will continue until Sept.5.

Earlier this month, Arab athletes returned from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with their biggest haul from the Summer Games, winning 18 medals — 5 gold medals, 5 silvers and 8 bronze — and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award is hoping Arab para athletes too will return home with a record medal-haul from the Japanese capital, where more than 4,400 para athletes from more than 160 countries will be competing.

The Award has urged Emirati and Arab athletes to do their best and raise their country’s flag on the podium, and write a glorious new chapter in Arab Paralympic history.

Hundreds of Arab athletes are participating in the Tokyo Paralympic Games, including a number of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Award winners, led by the Emirati quartet of Mohammed Al Qayed, who won a silver and a bronze at the 2012 Games in London and the 800m gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games, and carried the UAE flag at the opening ceremony in Tokyo; veteran Mohammed Khamis, who has won two powerlifting gold medals and a silver on his previous visits to the Paralympic Games; shooter Abdullah Sultan Al Ariani, who won a gold medal in the 2012 Paralympics in London and three silver medals in the 2016 Rio Paralympics; and cyclist Ahmed Mubarak Al Mutaiwei.

In its 11th season now, the Award, which is one of the leading initiatives of its kind in the world offering Dhs7.5 million in prize money, has been honouring Olympic and Paralympic champions since its inception in 2009.

The Board of Trustees of the Award decided to extend the window of nominations for the 11th edition of the Award to September 15 with the aim of giving an opportunity to athletes and federations, who have been successful at the Summer Olympics and the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, to send in their nominations.