The UAE opened the medal account at London 2012 Paralympics with Abdulla Sultan Al Aryani clinching the gold medal in the shooting event on Tuesday. Al Aryani, who hails from Al Ain, won the gold medal in the R6-50m prone rifle shooting event at the London’s Royal Artillery Barracks. He finished on top of his qualification section, with a score of 592, and continued his form into the eight-man finals round. He scored 102.8 in the final, giving him a total of 694.8 for the competition — just 0.2 points ahead of silver medallist Juan Antonio Saavedra Reinaldo. British shooter Matthew Skelhon won the bronze as he finished third with 639.2 points. After winning the title, Al Aryani said: “It’s amazing. I was sure that I was going to get the gold. “It’s a dream — the first time I have won the gold and it’s the first gold medal for the UAE in this competition (London 2012). It’s everything for me. “From the day I finished the last Paralympic Games I started immediately planning for this one. I was very focused on London.” Aryani, who was a member of the UAE 2004 Olympic team which included gold medal winner Sheikh Ahmed Bin Hasher Al Maktoum, was injured in a car crash a year later and paralysed below the waist. He narrowly missed out on making the final round at the Beijing Games in 2008, but has gone one better at London 2012. Al Aryani’s success comes as the UAE also finished strongly on the athletics track. Mohamed Hammadi topped the heat in the T34 200m rate group with a personal best time of 29.03s to qualify for Tuesday night’s finals at the Olympic Stadium. gulftoday