Qatar's Ali Arshad finished seventh in the 800m wheelchair race (T34 category) at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Saturday. Arshad recorded a time of 1:41.84 seconds in a high-quality field. World record holder Austin Smeenk of Canada won gold. Smeenk clocked 1:39.27 seconds for the win, with Chaiwat Rattana of Thailand taking silver in 1:39.48 and Rheed McCracken of Australia claiming bronze in 1:40.13. Arshad, competing in his maiden Paralympics, had qualified for the final on Friday with a new personal best of 1:40.36 seconds. However, in the final, he could not improve on his performance and had to be content with seventh place. Ali Arshad said that he was pleased with his performance in the 800m, especially after taking sixth place in the 100m earlier this week, noting that the competition was very strong during the race. Dr Hassan Al Ansari, Secretary-General of the Qatar Paralympic Federation and head of the delegation, expressed his pride in Arshads results. Al Ansari stressed that Arshad had sho wn great levels during the two races, indicating that he has an innate talent and great potential that qualifies him to achieve more successes in future editions of the Paralympic Games. He added that Arshad's achievement of these positive results demonstrates his commitment and insistence on providing the best to raise the flag of Qatar in international forums. Source: Qatar News Agency