Hakim Arezki
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| Born | 20 March 1983 Azazga, Algeria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |  France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Football 5-a-side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Précy-Sur-Oise Cécifoot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Hakim Arezki (born 20 March 1983) is a French football 5-a-side player who competes in international blind football tournaments, he plays as defender and midfielder. He is a Paralympic silver medalist and a European champion.[1]
Disability
[edit]On 27 April 2001, 18 year old Arezki took part in a peace march in his hometown of Azazga following a number of riots in Kabylia in the past month.[2] The demonstrators marched in front of the gendarmerie and the gendarmerie began shooting at the demonstrators, three people were fatally hit including one of Arezki's childhood friends. Arezki ran with the group of demonstrators and was shot in his Achilles tendon and in his temple, if he hadn't turned his head around then he would've been shot in the forehead. He was taken to the hospital in the town and was overwhelmed by the casualties' serious injuries so he was transported to Mustapha-Pasha hospital in Algiers. The riot caused 129 deaths and thousands were wounded including Arezki.[3]
Two days later, 29 April, Arezki was admitted to a Parisian hospital by air ambulance. He was taken into surgery as soon as he arrived, the surgeons took a lot of considerable time to decide whether to amputate his foot but fortunately they managed to save his foot, his second operation was to remove the three bullet fragments in his head but the surgeons discovered that one of the fragments had severed his optic nerve which caused Arezki to have permanent sight loss.[4][5]
Months later, Arezki joined in a specialised centre for the blind in France where he taught how to read Braille, learned to play piano and guitar, he was also introduced to blind football which gave him passion to play football and he joined several football clubs since 2009 then joined France's national football 5-a-side team in 2010. He participated at the 2012 Summer Paralympics where he won a silver medal, he participated again at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and finished in eighth place.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ "Hakim Arezki - France Paralympique". France Paralympique (in French). 10 June 2022.
- ^ "Kabylia: the end of the standoff?". Jeune Afrique (in French). 24 January 2005.
- ^ "Hakim Arezki: His extraordinary revenge on life, after being explosively shot in the head". France Handicap (in French). 10 June 2022.
- ^ "Paralympic Games: Hakim Arezki, from Azazga to Tokyo". Jeune Afrique (in French). 1 September 2021.
- ^ "An athlete's life in manga: Hakim Arezki, from a bloody demonstration in Algeria to the blind football grounds". California 18. 19 August 2021.
- ^ "Arezki and France seek to reclaim status at Tokyo 2020". International Blind Sports Federation. 23 July 2021.
External links
[edit]- Hakim Arezki at the International Paralympic Committee
- Hakim Arezki at Équipe de France (in French)
- Hakim Arezki at France Paralympique (in French)
- 1983 births
- Living people
- People from Azazga
- Algerian emigrants to France
- Paralympic 5-a-side footballers for France
- 5-a-side footballers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- 5-a-side footballers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
- 5-a-side footballers at the 2024 Summer Paralympics