Shari Hj Juma'at (pic) will shoulder the hopes of a nation when the veteran para-athlete takes to the Olympic Stadium for the men's javelin throw F54/55/56 final at the London Paralympics today.

Ranked No 1 in the world in the Men's Javelin F55 field wheelchair event, the record-breaking Shari who is Brunei's only contestant at the Paralympics is expected to face stiff competition from Egypt's Ibrahim Ibrahim, Malaysia's Faridul Masri, Cuba's Leonardo Diaz and Poland's Karol Kozun when their event starts at 5:12pm (Brunei time).

Shari who has been representing the Sultanate since 1991 and set a new ASEAN Para Games record when he threw a winning 26.22m during last year's edition in Solo, Indonesia has a personal best of 29.83m, which he achieved during April's 1st Malaysia Open Para Athletics Championship 2012.

But facing off against a quartet who have all have broken the 30m barrier, Shari will know that he has his work cut out for him.

Ibrahim's personal best is 34.27m, while Faridul is at 33.88m, Diaz 30.51m and Kozun 30.18m.

But after having promised the country that his target for the Games is gold, it's a sure-fire bet that Shari will not happily settle for anything less in the 15-man competition.

Courtesy from Brunei Times