Sports

Andre Schuerrle came off the bench to snatch a late goal and earn a deserved point for Borussia Dortmund as they twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Champions League holders Real Madrid in a compelling Group F encounter on Tuesday.

The Germany international lashed high into the net from inside the area to level in the 87th minute after Raphael Varane had restored Real’s advantage in the 68th.

The France defender’s goal made up for an earlier slip that allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to cancel out Cristiano Ronaldo’s 17th-minute opener towards the end of the first half.

Dortmund and Real each have four points with the Germans top on goal difference, while Sporting Lisbon are third on three points after beating visitors Legia Warsaw 2-0.

The hosts made an electric start at the Westfalenstadion after Ronaldo had tested Roman Burki with an early free-kick, with Gonzalo Castro and Aubameyang each firing at Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas and Ousmane Dembele shooting over.

Real were also let off the hook when referee Mark Clattenburg failed to spot a clear handball by Ronaldo in the area while defending a free-kick.

Just as a Dortmund opener looked inevitable, Real struck first with a perfectly executed counterattack.

Karim Benzema began the move with a dart down the left before finding support in Toni Kroos, who worked the ball towards Gareth Bale. He then teed up Ronaldo to arrow into the far corner.

Ronaldo raced to the sidelines to salute Portuguese compatriots Pepe and Fabio Coentrao and coach Zinedine Zidane, signalling that Saturday’s disagreement over his substitution in a La Liga match had been quickly forgotten.

Sporting Lisbon beat Legia Warsaw 2-0 in the other Group F match.

Slimani scores to beat Porto

Leicester City forgot their domestic struggles to secure a second successive Champions League victory as Islam Slimani tormented a familiar foe by grabbing the only goal in a 1-0 win over Porto on Tuesday.

Leicester sit top of Group G with six points after Slimani headed powerfully home in the first half for his sixth goal in his last four matches against Porto, having joined Leicester from Sporting Lisbon in August.

It was the first time Leicester had tasted Champions League football at home and they came into the game on the back of a 4-1 defeat to Manchester United and a run of poor form in the Premier League, but they looked comfortable throughout against Porto.

The defeat ensured Porto, who rattled the post late on through Jesus Corona, have one point from their opening two group games and have not won in 17 games in England. 

Copenhagen needed an own-goal in the second half to kick-start a 4-0 victory over Club Brugge in Group G.

Higuain on target for Juventus

Gonzalo Higuain scored his first Champions League goal for Juventus after his 90-million euro ($99.74 million) move from Napoli as the Italian title holders drubbed Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb 4-0 in their Group H match on Tuesday.

The result put Juventus top of the section on four points from two games, ahead of Sevilla on goal difference after the Spanish side ground out a 1-0 home win over Olympique Lyon.

It was no more than the Italian title holders deserved after dominating throughout, with Bosnian playmaker Miralem Pjanic running the show in the opening period before he was substituted at halftime.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was purring with delight after his team steamrolled through the lop-sided contest.

“We played well throughout the game and kept going until the end because goal difference can be very important,” he told a news conference.

“I thought Higuain and Dybala linked up superbly and the floodgates opened after we took the lead. We should have scored more in the second half but I am content.

“It was also important to keep a clean sheet, our third in a row in all competitions.”

Wissam Ben Yedder’s first Champions League goal gave Sevilla a 1-0 win over Olympique Lyon on Tuesday and put them level on points with Juventus at the top of Group H.

Son strikes again for Tottenham

Son Heung-min scored his fifth goal in as many games to give Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win over a limited CSKA Moscow side in their Champions League Group E clash in Moscow on Tuesday.

Despite missing five key players, Tottenham Manager Mauricio Pochettino was still able to name a strong line-up as Spurs played their first ever Champions League match in the Russian capital.

The English side started well and dominated possession but CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who was looking for his first clean sheet in 39 Champions League encounters, was largely untroubled early on.

Zoran Tosic should have done better for the hosts just after the half-hour mark as he blazed over with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area.

Tottenham continued to press after the break, with CSKA happy to sit back on the counterattack. However, the Army Men lacked any pace to cause Spurs any significant problems when breaking.

AS Monaco’s Kamil Glik scored a fine goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 home draw with Bayer Leverkusen and keep them top of Champions League Group E on Tuesday.

AMMAN — The fourth round of the National Rally Championship “La Storia Museum Rally” kicks-off on Friday with the participation of nine drivers.

Winner of last year’s Jordan Rally Championship Khaled Juma’ is currently leading the standings with 87.5 points followed by Salameh Qamaz with 54 points and Ihab Shurafa in third place with 34.5 points.

Juma’, who won the first and third rounds and came fifth in Jordan Rally, the third round of the Middle East Rally Championship, will have a challenging time from Qamaz and Shurafa, who will be pressuring Juma’ to gain more points.

Juma’ clocked 55m54s in the third round, while Salameh Qamaz and co-driver Ahmed Zaidan came second clocking 56m54s, while Ahmed Shaban and co-driver Shadi Shaban came third with 1h02m04s.

Juma’ told The Jordan Times that it all ends here.

“The fourth round will be a very challenging for all the drivers as some are taking part on asphalt roads for the first time and asphalt roads are abrasive and if temperatures are hot, drivers must manage tyre wear carefully,” he said.

“My aim is to end it on higher note and win the title again. The most important thing is safety and I hope that everyone will be having fun,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Qamaz said that he is ready for the asphalt roads.

“I have modified my car to fit the asphalt roads of the rally which I am taking part for the first time on asphalt track. I am currently in the second place and first place among Group S which is fine,” he said. 

Drivers will have to go through Bahra (9.76km), Kroum (5.46km) and Ghernata (6.03kms) three times each with a total distance of 184.57km including 63.9km of special stages.

Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsport CEO said that all preparations for an exciting event have been concluded.

“Safety issues are our main concern and we have taken the right measurements to make sure drivers and fans are safe and at the same time enjoy the event,” he said.

“The rally takes its name from the famous La Storia Museum Complex in Madaba which is a combination of folk, history and a handicrafts centre,” he added.

MADRID — Neymar and Luis Suarez will lead the attack again when Barcelona visits Borussia Moenchengladbach in its first Champions League game since losing Lionel Messi to an injury.

Barcelona has won only once in its last six matches against Bundesliga teams in Germany.

Another German club with an important match against Spanish opposition is Bayern Munich, which plays at Atletico Madrid in a rematch of last season’s semifinals.

Here’s a look at Wednesday’s matches in the Champions League:

Group A

Three months after playing against each other at the European Championship, the Xhaka brothers meet again.

Granit Xhaka should line-up for Arsenal against his older brother Taulant, a defender for Swiss team Basel. At Euro 2016, Granit played for Switzerland while Taulant featured for Albania after switching his international allegiance in 2013.

Both teams started with 1-1 draws, although Arsenal got the result at Paris Saint-Germain in possibly the English team’s toughest match in the group.

PSG, still without injured winger Hatem Ben Arfa, is away to Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad.

Group B

Napoli was the only group winner in the opening round and has a chance to solidify its lead when it hosts Benfica.

The Italian side will be relying on 22-year-old Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik, who has filled in admirably after Gonzalo Higuain’s Italian-record transfer to Juventus for 90 million euros ($99 million). He scored both goals in the comeback win at Dynamo Kiev and added two more two-goal matches in Serie A.

Benfica, which conceded a late equaliser to Besiktas at home in its opener, is likely to remain without forward Jonas because of an injury.

Dynamo Kiev will try to rebound at Besiktas.

Group C

Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen will be making an emotional return to his hometown of Moenchengladbach.

Ter Stegen made 108 Bundesliga appearances for Borussia from 2011-14.

Celtic lost 7-0 to Ter Stegen’s Barcelona in the opener, and things don’t get much easier for the Scottish champions.

Next up for Celtic is Manchester City, which is on a 10-match winning run under new coach Pep Guardiola. One of its best performances so far was a 4-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach.

City will be without one of its leading players, Kevin De Bruyne, because of a hamstring injury.

Group D

Bayern’s last three trips to Spain all ended in defeats and elimination in the semifinals of the Champions League. It happened against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, its opponent again on Wednesday.

Captain Philipp Lahm downplayed any talk of revenge for the match at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.

Rostov hosts PSV Eindhoven in Russia in the other group match.

AMMAN — The medals kept on flowing for Jordan on day three of the Asian Beach Games on Tuesday with jiu jitsu again taking centre stage in Da Nang, Vietnam, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

With tremendous performances on Sunday and Monday delivering 12 Jordan medals to be placed fourth in the medal table, the Kingdom picked up another gold and three bronzes today and not to be outdone, the beach handball team secured their first win.

But it was those Qubbaj sisters who were at it once again in the Open Category with Luma, 28, winning her second gold of the Games and Rana, 32, picking up bronze.

The pair missed out on meeting each other in the final after Rana, who was carrying an injury from a first round match, lost in the last four to Mongolia’s Battseseg Tsog-Ochir, but her younger sister took revenge with a stunning submission win for her double gold.

“I am so grateful for those who have stood by me and supported me over the years,” said Luma, who won gold the day before in the 70kg weight. “I am delighted to have won and for the Jordan jiu jitsu team to have done so well out here.”

Meanwhile, the men were also in the medals for their Open Weight competition with Basel Fanous and Haidar Al Rasheed, 23, securing bronzes after both lost to the UAE opposition in the semifinals.

After two defeats, the ladies beach handball team finished with a flourish in Group A with a 2-0 victory over Hong Kong. Goalkeeper Aya Obaidat was the man of the match following an assured display. They will now go on to play in the fifth place play-off against Japan on Friday.

And there’s more to come after that with Jordan’s wrestlers preparing to launch their competitions on Saturday with Zakaria Al Shishani, Ameer Ishakat and Husam Al Din Abu Sayyaf all looking for honours.

AMMAN — Turkey will soon join the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) next year after the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation submitted their request to the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of motor sport. 

Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Attiya, FIA vice president, told The Jordan Times by phone that this is a very positive request.

“We are happy that Turkey is requesting to be part of the MERC from 2017 and I would like thank the management of the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation for their positive initiative and we are looking forward to having more cooperation in the future,” he said. 

“No doubt that with Turkey joining in 2017, MERC will be stronger than ever. Turkish drivers have the right experience in rallies and they are well-known in auto sports. I will make sure to host more auto sports events under the FIA with a special focus on the MENA region,” he added. 

The MERC consists of the following countries: Dubai, Cyprus, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar.

The FIA vice president emphasised that special focus should be directed towards youths.

“We have to encourage youths in MENA to take part in such sports to enjoy the success achieved in a short time. Such success is considered clear evidence of the reach of motor sports in the region which we honour and appreciate so much,” he said.

“During my last visit to Jordan for the Jordan Rally this year, I met with HRH Prince Feisal and we discussed the challenges and auto sports in the region,” he added.

Jordan Rally the third round of MERC was held May 5-7 at the Dead Sea area and witnessed Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah register his 10th victory in Jordan and a 63rd in his MERC career.

“We highly value the role played by HRH Prince Feisal and his vision regarding auto sports in Jordan and I know that HRH the Prince is providing everything to take this sport to another higher level as sustainability is really important in any sports and auto sports just like any other sport is suffering from lack of support but solid moral support from the prince is there and will always be there,” Attiya said. 

“There is no doubt that Jordan’s efforts in auto sports have delevloped several champions during the years, and many strongly believe, and I am one of them, that Jordan has a unique place in the history of rallying, drivers and its people and generosity are truly amazing. We hope the best for Jordan in everything,” he concluded.

European champions Real Madrid head to rampaging Borussia Dortmund for their Champions League Group F game on Tuesday in a frazzled state with their buoyant start to the season having been punctured by successive La Liga draws.

Real gave away a late equaliser to draw 2-2 at Las Palmas on Saturday, after their joint-record 16-game winning streak in La Liga was halted by Wednesday’s 1-1 home stalemate against Villarreal, which saw their lead at the top cut to a point.

Dortmund, meanwhile, have been on a sizzling run since losing to RB Leipzig on September 10, scoring 20 goals in four straight wins against Legia Warsaw in the Champions League and Darmstadt, Wolfsburg and Freiburg in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund, who thrashed the Polish club 6-0 away in their opening group game, are second in the German top flight and on Friday equalled a club record of 24 games without defeat at home in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over Freiburg.

Even in the midst of Real’s sensational winning run, Zinedine Zidane’s side were criticised by the media for unconvincing performances and their sloppiness was punished by Las Palmas in their last La Liga outing.

Midfielder Tana hooked home a poor clearance from Real’s Raphael Varane to cancel out Marco Asensio’s opener and, after Karim Benzema had restored Real’s lead, Sergio Araujo sneaked into the box from the left to level in the 85th minute.

Real’s lacklustre displays have been compounded by the absence of midfield anchor Casemiro and influential left back Marcelo through injury and the form of talisman Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo has endured a difficult start to the season, scoring twice in four games — including against his former club Sporting in Real’s 2-1 home win in their first Champions League group game — while missing three due to injury and illness.

He reacted angrily to being substituted by Zidane with 18 minutes left at Las Palmas.

Striker Alvaro Morata, however, said there were still plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

“We still haven’t lost and we are still top of the league. The important thing is how you finish and we have to win all our games if possible,” he told reporters on Saturday.

“We have to keep working and now focus our minds on the Champions League.”

Eleven times European champions Real have a dismal record in Germany, having won four out of 30 competitive games in the country, and have lost their last three visits to Dortmund.

Dortmund are waiting on the fitness of their Spain centre-back Marc Bartra and Colombian forward Adrian Ramos, who both missed Friday’s win over Freiburg.

Their hitman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang finished the game with a knock although the Gabon striker, who has four goals in his last three games, said it was nothing to worry about.

AMMAN — Team Jordan’s Super Sunday turned into Magic Monday with six medals won on a glorious day two of the Asian Beach Games in Da Nang, Vietnam, to go fourth in the medal table, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

And it was the jiu jitsu team that once again lead the way, following up their gold, silver and bronze on Sunday with further medals today.

On Monday, Team Jordan won two golds, two silvers and a bronze in jiu jitsu with one silver medal also secured in muay thai.

Popular sisters Rana and Luma Qubbaj showed why they are considered as among the world’s best jiu jitsu fighters with superb performances to take a pair of golds.

Rana Qubbaj, 32, clinched her gold in the -70kg category against Battsetseg Tsog-Ochir of Mongolia, before sister Luma, 28, won gold against Thao Dao Thi of China in the +70kg.

Sandwiched between those two finals was another gallant Jordanian performance from Hamzeh Al Rasheed, 21, who settled for silver after losing to Ali Munfaradi of Bahrain in the -77kg category. Munfaradi earlier beat Hamzeh’s brother Abdul Kareem Rasheed, 24, in the semifinal, but the Jordanian dusted himself down to win bronze by beating the UAE’s Salim Khalifan.

Also winning silver was Ruba Al Sayegh, 32, who recorded three victories over opponents from Vietnam, India and The Philippines but she eventually missed out on gold to the impressive Battogot Buyandelger of Mongolia in the 62kg category.

Meanwhile in muay thai, Mohammad Salameh, 24, lost in the final of the 81kg to China’s Can Luo, but secured a silver for his efforts to complete a sensational day for Jordan.

Unfortunately, the beach handball team lost their second game 2-0 to hosts Vietnam, leaving them 0-2 with one group match left to play.

On Sunday, Haidar Al Rasheed clinched the country’s first-ever gold at the event in the -85kg jiu jitsu competition, beating the UAE’s Khalfan Balhol in the final. It completed a brilliant event for the 23-year-old who overcame fighters from the UAE, Iraq and Tajikistan on the way to the final.

In the same weight, Al Rasheed’s teammate Mohammed Bilbaisi, 27, missed out on making it an all-Jordan final with defeat in the semi, but bounced back to win the bronze medal match against Thailand’s Sooknatee Suntra.

Also in jiu jitsu on Sunday night, Basel Fanous secured silver in the -94kg category after losing his final against the UAE’s Feisal Al Ketbi.

The achievements moved Jordan up to fourth in the medal table behind Thailand, Vietnam and China.

MADRID — Barcelona didn’t show any signs of missing Lionel Messi on Saturday, cruising past Sporting Gijon 5-0 in their first Spanish league game without the injured playmaker.

Neymar and Luis Suarez took over in Messi’s absence, and by the end of the day Barcelona were only one point behind Real Madrid, which drew at Las Palmas 2-2 after conceding a late equaliser.

Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio scored for Madrid, which twice relinquished its lead.

Neymar scored two goals and Suarez one for Barcelona, while Rafinha and Arda Turan added the others at El Molinon Stadium in Gijon.

Athletic Bilbao won their fourth in a row to be third, two points behind Madrid.

Fifth-place Atletico Madrid host Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday.

Sporting Gijon 0, Barcelona 5 

Messi hurt his groin in the draw with Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou last week, and will miss another La Liga game, one Champions League match, and Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Peru on October 6 and Paraguay on October 11.

Coach Luis Enrique filled the midfield with Turan, Rafinha, and Andre Gomes, resting Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic. He also didn’t play Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba ahead of the Champions League game at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday.

“I have different kinds of players and that gives me a lot of options,” Luis Enrique said. “Depending on who we are playing and the players I have available, I’ll pick the ones that I think are right for the situation.”

Sporting played with 10 men from the 74th as captain Alberto Lora was sent off for a second yellow card after a hard sliding tackle on Sergi Roberto.

Barcelona struggled in the first 30 minutes but took control of the match after the first two goals, and the game opened up even more for the Catalan club after Lora’s red card.

“The result doesn’t reflect what happened,” Luis Enrique said. “It looks like it was an easy win but Sporting played an intense game. The red card changed everything and from then on we were able to score another three.”

Sporting, who dropped to 12th in the standings, also lost 5-0 at Atletico Madrid two rounds ago.

Las Palmas 2, Real Madrid 2

Substitute Sergio Araujo scored an 85th-minute equaliser as Las Palmas held Real Madrid to their second consecutive draw.

Marco Asensio opened the scoring, and Tana evened the match before half-time. Benzema put the visitors ahead again in the 67th, but Araujo’s shot ricocheted off goalkeeper Kiko Casilla and twice bounced off the Argentine striker.

“We lost two points that are needed to win the league,” Madrid striker Alvaro Morata said. “We had to win this game.”

Cristiano Ronaldo, who had a goal disallowed because of offside in the 56th, appeared to be upset by his substitution in the 72nd.

Athletic Bilbao 3, Sevilla 1

Athletic Bilbao won their fourth in a row.

Mikel San Jose scored in the first half, and Samir Nasri equalised for Sevilla in the 55th, but Mikel Balenziaga put the hosts ahead again in the 66th, and Aritz Aduriz sealed the victory by converting a 90th-minute penalty kick at San Memes Stadium.

Following losses in their first two games, including to Barcelona at home in the second round, Athletic were coming off wins over Deportivo La Coruna, Valencia and Granada.

Sevilla, who were yet to lose after five games, dropped to fourth place.

Strong support

Barcelona’s victory came a day after Arnold Schwarzenegger paid a visit to the squad. The actor and former California governor was in town for a bodybuilding event, and met with players such Neymar, Sergio Busquets, and Javier Mascherano.

Manchester City beat Swansea 3-1 to make it a perfect 10 victories under Pep Guardiola, including six in the Premier League, as they recorded their best start to a top-flight campaign.

City’s victory was the perfect riposte to the Spaniard’s old rival Jose Mourinho, who earlier saw his remodelled Manchester United sparkle without the dropped Wayne Rooney, thumping Premier League champions Leicester City 4-1.

On a day of goals, both Manchester sides were outscored by Liverpool, who crushed Hull City 5-1 to take their tally to 24 in the past eight games.

As usual, Manchester City’s victory owed much to Argentine striker Sergio Aguero, who scored twice to take his tally to 11 in six games in all competitions.

With Raheem Sterling adding a superb third, City increased their lead at the top of the table to four points, although an injury to Kevin De Bruyne took some gloss off their day.

Everton’s unexpected 1-0 loss at Bournemouth meant Tottenham Hotspur moved into second place, on 14 points, after Son Heung-min scored both goals in the 2-1 win at Middlesbrough.

The Korean striker has now scored four times in three games to equal his tally for the whole of last season.

Manchester United were 5th on 12 points, ahead of Saturday’s late game between Arsenal and Chelsea, but Mourinho will not be looking too closely at the table just yet after going into the early kick-off under unexpected pressure following back-to-back league defeats.

His response was to drop Rooney, who cut a slightly bemused figure on the sidelines as United, and Paul Pogba in particular, made light of his absence.

The world’s most expensive footballer was at the centre of most of United’s best moves, heading his first goal for the club on 42 minutes and starting the move that set up Juan Mata, Rooney’s replacement, for another.

Three of the goals came via Danny Blind corners from the left as Leicester plunged to their third defeat, as many as they suffered in the whole of last season.

Although Mourinho said Rooney was “happy” after the game, it is hard to see how England’s record scorer, who came on as a late substitute, will force his way back into the starting line-up.

“Of course, he is as happy as I am,” Mourinho told reporters. “His team won. He is a big player for me, for United and for this country. I trust him completely.”

Liverpool went one better than United at Anfield where Adam Lallana, James Milner (two penalties), Sadio Mane and a trademark special from outside the area by Philippe Coutinho brushed aside a Hull side demoralised by the dismissal of Egyptian winger Ahmed Elmohamady.

There was late drama at Stoke City, where West Bromwich Albion forward Salomon Rondon rescued a point for Tony Pulis in his 1,000th game as a manager, whose opposite number Mark Hughes was denied a first league win of the season.

With October not yet arrived, it is already looking tough at the bottom.

Another injury-time strike, this time by Christian Benteke, completed a remarkable comeback for Crystal Palace as they came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Sunderland, who are now in last place.

AMMAN — The biggest sporting gatherings in the world have come to an end as the Summer Olympic Games as well as the Paralympic Games concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with athletes now awaiting the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Soon after Ahmad Abu Ghaush won Jordan’s first ever Olympic gold medal in taekwondo’s 68kg category, Jordan’s Paralympians returned home on the weekend with three medals in power lifting.

Jordan won two silvers by Tharwat Hajjaj in the 86kg category and Omar Karadeh in the 49kg category, while Jamil Shibli won bronze in the +107kg category. Shibli is a former silver medallist in shot put at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2004 Athens Games.

The delegation also included the only athlete to ever win a Paralympic gold medal for Jordan — wheelchair table tennis ace Maha Barghouti who won gold in Sydney 2000, along with Khitam Abu Awad, a former bronze medallist, Osama Abu Jam’eh, a first time qualifier, Bilal Yousef, in athletics, and powerlifters former bronze medallist Mutaz Juneidi, Haidar Kawamleh and Abdul Karim Khattab.

Athletes with disabilities are grouped in classes defined by the degree of function presented by the disability. Traditionally there are athletes who belong to six different disability groups in the Paralympics movement: amputee, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, spinal cord injuries, intellectual disability and a group which includes all those that do not fit into the aforementioned groups.

Ever since first participating in the 1980 Olympics, Jordan’s national anthem was played twice. The first was when Barghouti won a gold medal at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000 and this year for Abu Gaush in Rio 2016.

Sports for the disabled has gained recognition for Jordan through impressive performances on the international scene. The first time Jordan’s flag was hoisted during an Olympic event was at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta when Imad Gharbawi won a silver medal in the discus. The crowning achievement was in Sydney 2000 when Barghouti won Jordan’s first gold medal. Two medals were added in Athens 2004 when Jamil Shibli won silver in the shot put while the women’s table tennis team (Khitam Abu Awad and Fatima Azzam) won bronze (Abu Awad later on won silver at the 2006 World Championship).

In 2008, Jordan’s athletes competed in table tennis, powerlifting and athletics and ended competition with a record four medals, two silvers and two bronze. Mohammad Qaradeh took silver in power lifting; Shibli, a silver medallist in Athens 2004, added a second silver with a new Paralympic world record in the shot put, Juneidi won a bronze medal in power-lifting and the women’s wheelchair table tennis team won bronze when Fatima Azzam and Khitam Abu Awad repeated their bronze medal win in Athens 2004.

The 2012 Paralympics was the most disappointing participation after the usual winners in table tennis failed to advance past the round of 16 while power lifters were embroiled in controversy amid assault complaints and were returned home.

Sports for the disabled has always been competitive and won multiple medals in Europe and Asia and Barghouti is a name no Jordanian can forget. Her outstanding career and gold medal achievement did not go unrecognised. In January 2001, His Majesty King Abdullah bestowed Al Hussein Medal of the First Order on Barghouti. That year, she was named Arab Athlete of the Year and voted Jordan’s top sports person of 2002 where she told the audience “I stand here tonight, though not on my feet, but by sheer determination, which has been the story of my life”.

Disabled athletes have usually made up for the failure to achieve better results on the Olympic scene, where even qualifying to the world’s premier sports gathering has been a daunting task, and since first participating in 1980, the Kingdom was yet to earn an Olympic medal up until 2016.

Apart from the qualifiers, non-qualifying athletes have taken part based on the “quota” or wild card system which aims at making sure countries from all corners of the globe are present. Until 2000, table tennis was the only game in the Kingdom whose athletes qualified through competition, through players Tatiana Najjar in Sydney 2000, Nadia Rashad in Barcelona 1992 and Jacqueline Duqum in Seoul 1988. Taekwondo and boxing followed soon after. In 2004, table tennis’ Zeina Sha’ban, equestrian’s Ibrahim Bisharat and taekwondo’s Nadine Dawani and Ibrahim Aqil qualified to the Athens Olympics. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Dawani, Bisharat and Sha’ban again qualified. In 2012, Jordan had Mohammad Abu Libbeh, Nadine Dawani and Raya Hatahet qualifying in Taekwondo, equestrian Bisharat and Ihab Al Matbouli in boxing. In 2016, it was Abu Ghaush in taekwondo and Hussein Ishaish in boxing.

With the Olympics and Paralympics now over, a reshuffle in sports federations is expected soon as they near their four-year terms, with sports observers calling the right members of federations to lead a better planning and assessment role to put Jordan on the competitive sporting map.

Jordan’s Paralympics Record

Atlanta 1996 

Imad Gharbawisilver (discus)

Sydney 2000

Maha Barghouti gold (table tennis)

Athens 2004 

Jamil Shibli silver (shot put)

Khitam Abu Awad 

Fatima Azzambronze (women’s table tennis team)

Beijing 2008

Mohammad Qaradehsilver (power lifting)

Jamil Shiblisilver(shot put)

Mutaz Juneidi bronze(powerlifting)

Khitam Abu Awad

Fatima Azzambronze(women’s table tennis team)

London 2012

No medals

Rio de Janeiro 2016

Tharwat Hajjaj silver(power lifting)

Omar Karadeh silver(power lifting)

Jamil Shibli bronze(power lifting)