Youth like Haider Ali a great asset for the nation: FM Qureshi

Islamabad: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said youth like Haider Ali were a great asset for the nation, who brought laurels to the country with their hard work.

The foreign minister telephoned Haider Ali, who had won gold medal in discus throw matches held in the Tokyo Paralympic Games and congratulated him on his success.

Qureshi told Haider Ali that the nation was proud of his achievement.

Haider Ali thanked the foreign minister for his words of encouragement and appreciation.

Paralympian Haider Ali made the country proud by winning the first-ever gold medal for Pakistan in Paralympics, with a top podium finish in the discus throw event at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics on Friday.

Haider threw a 55.26 metres throw in his fifth attempt out of the total six he made to score the best distance.

The silver medal was bagged by Ukraine’s Zhabnyak with a 52.43 metres throw, while Brazilian Teixeira de Souza won bronze with a 51.86 throw.

Earlier, Haider had won two medals, a silver in Beijing and a Bronze in Rio in the long jump event for Pakistan.