The reigning Paralympic and world champion threw a massive 48.87 metres to beat his previous record by 17 centimetres.

His effort ensures the event in Dubai remains synonymous with record-breaking as seven were smashed at last year's Grand Prix in the United Arab Emirates city.

Jonathan De Souza Santos of Brazil put in an excellent performance to win the F40/41 discus category, throwing 37.74m, and Germany's Mathias Schulze's 43.41m was enough to reign supreme in the F46/47 category.

Schulze's team mate Franziska Liebhardt also enjoyed a fruitful meet as her throw of 11.83m gave her victory in the women's F36/38 shot put classification, while fellow German Birgit Kober was second.

It also proved to be a successful day for Swiss veteran Beat Bösch as he claimed victory in the men's T52 200m after clocking a time of 34.44secs, while Britain's double Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft took the women's T34 200m honours with a rapid 33.85secs, as well as the 800m crown.

Tunisia's world and Paralympic champion Walid Ktila continued his dominantion of the T34 events as he raced to victory in both the 200m and 800m events, while world T54 200m champion Van Weeghel kept his formidable run of form going with another victory in a time of 25.47.

In the men's 100m T20 final, The Netherlands' Ranki Oberoi fended off competition from three Dubai Club for the Disabled athletes to take the win in a time of 11.29 secs, and the T13 final was won by Bulgarian Radoslav Zlatanov, who finished in 12.05secs.

Switzerland's Beat Bösch enjoyed a successful opening day as he claimed victory in the men's T52 200m race


Charles Atangama Ntsama of Cameroon proved too strong for the rest of the field in the T11 as he crossed the line in first place thanks to his time of 12.03secs, while compatriot Hermine Guemo Tala was victorious in the women's T11/12 100m race.

World champion Markus Rehm of Germany, was also in fine form as he won the T35-38/42/44 competition with a leap of 7.79m, while South Africa's Hilton Langenhoven sealed victory in the 100m T12 in 11.41 on what was a fruitful day for the African athletes. 

Elsewhere, Abbes Saidi of Tunisia dominated the men's 800m T37/38 final, posting a time of 2:05.99 that was too hot for the other athletes to handle on a superb day of competition.

The eagerly-anticipated event continues tomorrow with the spectators at the Police Officers Club set to be treated to yet more sublime action.

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