Kurdish javelin thrower to compete in 2016 Rio Paralympics

Hassan has participated in different national and international Paralympics and has won numerous medals. In 2012 Paralympic Games of London, he won silver medal.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kovan Hassan, a Kurdish javelin thrower and Olympic champion will compete in 2016 Rio Paralympics.  

Hassan, a dwarf athlete will be representing the Kurdistan Region and Iraq in Rio Paralympic. In an interview with Kurdistan24, he stated that he has been training for nine months.

“I have a good trainer. Mazin Hussain,” he said. “Not nine months, even two months is enough to get ready if you have a good trainer.”

Hassan said when he was young, children would refuse to play with him because he was a dwarf. “Now, I am heading to Brazil to participate in Rio Paralympics,” he told Kurdistan24 earlier this week.

[Kovan Hassan, a Kurdish athlete in an interview with Kurdistan24. (Photo: Kurdistan24)]

Hassan has participated in different national and international Paralympics and has won numerous medals. 

In the Paralympic Games of London 2012, he won silver medal.

In addition to Javelin, Hassan is also a discus throw and shot put athlete.

“I will do my best to win the gold medal in Rio Paralympic and dedicate it to our Peshmerga brothers on the front lines fighting Da’esh,” he said, using Arabic pejorative term for the Islamic State (IS).

The Paralympic Games will begin September 7 and Hassan's javelin match will be on September 11.

Hassan is from a village in the town of Akre, Duhok Province. His father told Kurdistan24 he was proud to see his son overcoming obstacles.

“I look at all the medals my son has won and realize I should never have been sad about his physical limitations,” the father told Kurdistan24, wishing that Hassan could participate in the Paralympics under the name of Kurdistan, not Iraq.

 

Editing by Ava Homa
(Additional reporting by Darbaz Ahmed)