AL KHALIFA Anas

Classification
KL1, VL2 (ICF, 01 Jun 2021)

Type of Impairment
Spinal Cord Injuries (Planet Canoe Facebook page, 02 Jun 2021)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Planet Canoe Facebook page, 02 Jun 2021)

Impairment Details
In 2018 he fell from a rooftop while installing solar panels. He landed on his back and sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury, which resulted in the loss of movement and sensation in his lower limbs. He also broke his left leg in multiple places. He was treated in one hospital for a month and then transferred to another where he underwent several surgeries and rehabilitation for a year-and-a-half. "I don't really remember much because I lost consciousness for four or five days. They called an ambulance and a helicopter to rush me to hospital. Things were very dark for me at that time, to wake up and know that you won't be able to walk again. Everything crosses your mind. Even the worst things possible. Everything just turned upside down. Para canoe became the missing piece of my body. It gave me hope in this life." (paralympic.org, 02 Jun 2021; Planet Canoe Facebook page, 02 Jun 2021)

General
REACHING GERMANY
Due to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, he spent two years in a camp for internally displaced people near the border with Turkey. After several attempts, he fled the country for Turkey in 2014, with the aim of reaching Germany. He spent a year working as a porter in Turkey before beginning the journey to Germany with other refugees. He arrived in August 2015. "There was so much destruction around me and the war, going through refugee camps and having to jump from border to border. I call it the journey of death [from Turkey to Germany] because it was full of so much risk along the way. The plan was for either me or my brother to go to Germany to build a better future and to help support the family." (paralympic.org, 02 Jun 2021)

CONSIDERING QUITTING
In 2020 his brother passed away during the civil conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic. He considered quitting the sport but changed his mind after coach Ognyana Dusheva encouraged him to pursue the goal of competing at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. "Even though my brother had refused to take part in the war, one day there was a small skirmish between some individuals. Nobody really knows exactly what happened, but my brother was accidentally shot in the heart and died. Even though he's no longer with us, I want to go there [the 2020 Paralympic Games] to make my brother and my parents very proud." (paralympic.org, 02 Jun 2021)