Leisure trust Active Newham has expressed sadness after the death of Para athlete Abdullah Hayayei following a training ground incident on Tuesday evening (11 July) at Newham Leisure Centre.

Emergency services were called shortly after 5pm to reports of a seriously injured man. Police, London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance attended the scene but Hayayei was pronounced dead at 5:20pm.

Hayayei was in London ahead of the World Para Athletics Championships, which begin in the city this week (14-23 July). He was due to compete in the shot put, discus and javelin F34 events. Last September, Hayayei made his Paralympic debut at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where he finished sixth in the javelin F34 and seventh in shot put F34.

Active Newham works in partnership with Newham Council to deliver leisure, sports and volunteering opportunities in the London borough.

Ian Gallagher, Active Newham managing director, said: “Our thoughts are with the Abdullah Hayayei family at this time. We want to assure both staff and customers that we are committed to deliver services and activities to get people in Newham more active, more often and this incident only strengthens our resolve to do this.”

Newham Lesiure Centre was closed yesterday (Wednesday) due to an ongoing investigation.

The Health and Safety Executive has been informed of Tuesday's incident.