Egyptian paralympic weightlifters Rehab Ahmed and Mohamed Elmenyawy have won Egypt’s first two gold medals in Paris Paralympics.
Elmenyawy, 25, won the gold medal in the men’s 59 kg event weightlifting competition after lifting 201 kg, just ten kg away from the record of 211 kg, held by Egypt’s Mohamed Osman.
China’s Qi Yongkai claimed silver after finishing second and Mohsen Bakhtiar of Iran won bronze in third place.
The medal is Elmenyawy first in his first-ever Summer Paralympics, but he wasn’t the only Egyptian to claim gold in Paris.
A few hours after his achievement, Rehab Ahmed followed in and also claimed gold at the women’s 55 kg weightlifting competition after lifting 127 kg, just short of her world-record 135 kg.
This is Rehab’s first gold medal in the Summer Paralympics, having claimed silver in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Rehab saw off compeition from silver medalist Besra Duman and Kamolpan Kraratpet of Thailand, who won the bronze medal.
These are Egypt’s first two paralympic gold medals since Rio 2016. Egypt have won seven medals in Tokyo 2020 but without any gold.