By Gary Anderson

February 21 - Teammates Terezinha Guilhermina and Jerusa Santos will do battle in Dubai at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix ©Getty Images Some of the world's top athletes will take to the track and field at the Sharjah Club in Dubai this weekend for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Fazaa International Athletics Competition, the first Grand Prix event of the season.

The Dubai Club Special Sports will organise the event, which has been running since 2009 and will see athletes compete in distances from 100 metres up to 5,000m on the track, while field events will consist of shot put, discus, javelin, club throw and long jump.

Athletes from 39 countries are expected to compete over the four days of competition, which is due to get underway tomorrow and runs until Tuesday (February 25), and the busiest of these will be the man known as the "Swiss Silver Bullet".

Double London 2012 silver medallist Marcel Hug is set to compete in six wheelchair race events ranging from the 100m up to 5,000m.

Hug is no stranger to a demanding schedule after claiming five titles at the World Championships last year in Lyon in the 400m, 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon events.

The "Swiss Silver Bullet" Marcel Hug will be one of the stars on show in Dubai this weekend ©AFP/Getty ImagesThe "Swiss Silver Bullet" Marcel Hug will be one of the stars on show in Dubai this weekend ©AFP/Getty Images



Three-times Paralympic champion Terezinha Guilhermina of Brazil is another who is expected to star in Dubai, where she will be competing in 100m, 200m and 400m races - for which she holds world records for all three – but will  be challenged strongly by team-mates Jhulia Santos and Jerusa Santos, who both medalled in Lyon.

Germany's Paralympic champion Markus Rehm also starred in Lyon and he will be taking part in the T44 100m race, before looking to thrill the fans again in the long jump competition in which he set a world record of 7.95 metres to take the World Championship crown.

Mexican Paralympic shot put champion Maria de Los Angeles Ortiz Hernandez will be hoping for a repeat of her performance in Dubai last year, when a throw of 11.50m in the F57 competition saw her set a world record mark.

Markus Rehm will be aiming to break his long jump world record at the Sharjah Club ©AFP/Getty ImagesMarkus Rehm will be aiming to break his long jump world record at the Sharjah Club ©AFP/Getty Images



Ortiz Hernandez went on to successfully defend her world title in Lyon and will once again face competition from World Championship silver and bronze medallists Stela Eneva of Bulgaria and Algeria's Nassima Saifi.

Dubai is the first of nine stops on the IPC Athletics Grand Prix circuit this year and the next meeting will be in Beijing in April followed by São Paulo, Arizona, Nottwil, Grosseto, Tunis and Berlin.

The IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final is due to once again take place at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on August 25.

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