KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Sept 2017:
The national para athletics squad continued to shine in track and field events by adding another six gold medals on the fourth day of competitions at the 9th Asean Para Games at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here yesterday.
The achievement saw Malaysia accumulate 29 gold medals throughout the four days of action in track and field events which started on Monday.
The golden harvest yesterday began with 2010 Asian Para Games gold medalist Mohd Hisham Khaironi – who won the men’s javelin F12/13 (Visually Impaired) with a distance of 49.98 metres.
“The sacrifice of leaving my wife and children for two months (for training) after the birth of my fifth child has finally paid off.”
Mohd Hisham, 38, said the victory was a present to his youngest son who is now two months old as he won his third gold medal at the Games. He won the first gold in the event at the Manila Games in 2005 followed by the Singapore Games in 2015.
The para athlete, who is a teacher at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Malik in Alor Setar, Kedah is determined to win his third consecutive gold medal in the Philippines in 2019.
World champion and Rio Paralympic gold medalist, Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli set a new Games record with a throw of 16.81 metres in the men’s shot put F20 (Learning Disability) which erased his own Games record of 15.69 metres set in the 2014 edition in Myanmar.
Muhammad Hafiz Abu Bakar continued the cheers for the national contingent when he defended his gold medal in men’s discus F36/37 (Cerebral Palsy) with 387 Raza points.
Jonathan Wong Kar Gee, making his debut in the Games, contributed the fourth gold medal from the men’s long jump T11/12 (Visually Impaired) with 929 Raza points before Adderin Majurin claimed the fifth goal with 425 Raza points in the men’s shot put F32/33/34.
Malaysia’s last gold of the today came from Doriah Poulus in the women’s javelin F42/44 after collecting 760 Raza points.
Indonesia continued to stay at the top of the overall athletics tally by adding another four gold medals for an overall total of 35 gold while Thailand are third with 18 gold medals.
The national contingent won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals in wheelchair tennis. Malaysia’s two gold medals were won by Abu Samah Borhan in the men’s singles and by Azman Hasan in the men’s quad singles.
The golden haul at the National Tennis Centre in Jalan Duta began with Abu Samah when he defeated the top seed and world number 43rd player Suthi Khlongrua of Thailand, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) .
“In the second set, I made several mistakes and he almost overpowered me but I managed to keep my focus and cracked the tie-breaker in the second set.”
Azman followed up on Abu Samah’s victory by beating Sombut Yampapha of Thailand 6-2, 5-7, and 6-4.
In this category, players have an impairment affecting their playing arm as well as their legs, which limits their ability to handle the racket and to move in the wheelchair.
When met after the match, Azman, 51, was elated to repeat his gold medal feat at the Asean Para Games in Indonesia in 2011.
Abu Samah-Ariffahmi Zaquan lost to Suthi-Wittaya Peemmee, 2-6 and 4-6 to take the silver medal.
The bronze went to Banjob Suwan-Sunthon Sridaeng (Thailand) and Mohamad Yisshazwan Yusof-Mohamad Firdaus (Malaysia).
Defending champion Jong Yee Khie ended a four-day wait for a gold medal from powerlifting when he retained the men’s 97kg category gold at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre.
The 28-year-old clinched the gold for the third consecutive edition since the 2014 Myanmar Games in style by erasing his own games record by lifting 202kg in his first attempt and 210kg in his second attempt to overcome the 200kg record set in Singapore two years ago.
Yee Khie from Kuching, Sarawak however, failed in his attempt to lift 215kg.
“If given enough time to rest and with some refreshment, I could have lifted 215kg because the 10 minutes break period was not enough to recover. I will try to lift 220kg at the Asian Para Games in Jakarta next year.”
The silver medal was won by Atmaji Priamboo from Indonesia (175kg) while Chinnaphop Khamdap from Thailand took the bronze with (150kg).
In the men’s 88kg category, Anto Boi from Indonesia lifted 180kg to deny Nicodemus Manggoi from Malaysia the gold – after the latter had managed only 155kg in a competition that saw only two competitors.
The organisers do not award silver medals if only two competitors take part in a particular event.
In the women’s 86kg category, Norfariza Mortadza, 31, from Miri, Sarawak lifted 83kg to contribute a silver medal behind defending champion Ni Nengah Widiasih from Indonesia who managed 95kg, which was a new record compared with her own old record of 80kg.
From the 19 gold medals offered in powerlifting which ended today, Malaysia managed only one gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals compared with the three gold medals won in Singapore, two years ago.
On a day when nothing went right for the Malaysian swimming camp, Carmen Lim provided the only splash in the pool by winning the women’s 50m Freestyle S8 gold medal in record breaking fashion at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.
Carmen Lim produced an excellent performance to clock 36.48s to comfortably beat Thailand’s Thongbai Chaisawas (39.56s) and Indonesia’s Nor Aimah (42.28s) en route to setting a new games record, thus erasing her own mark of 39.14s that was set during the 2015 Singapore edition.
The win made up for her near miss in the 100m Backstroke S8 when she lost the gold to Indonesia’s Gusmalayanti by a mere 0.50s.
Earlier, Zul Amirul Sidi and Jamery Siga contributed a silver and bronze in the men’s 100m Backstroke S5 after clocking 1:41.84s and 1:46.80s respectively while Vietnam’s Vo Thanh Tung took the gold with a time of 1:26.77s that beat Zul Amirul’s previous record of 1:36.80s.
Another swimmer from the Malaysian camp, Jin Ping Ting, also lost the gold medal race to Indonesia’s Muhammad Bejita while Anas Zul Amirul Sidi who had won a gold medal on Tuesday, ended with the silver in the men’s 50m Freestyle S14 while Mohd Adib Iqbal Abdullah picked up the bronze in the same event.
| COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| INDONESIA | 91 | 53 | 38 | 182 |
| MALAYSIA | 72 | 65 | 55 | 192 |
| THAILAND | 44 | 49 | 57 | 150 |
| VIETNAM | 33 | 49 | 47 | 129 |
| PHILIPPINES | 16 | 17 | 19 | 52 |
| MYANMAR | 9 | 12 | 10 | 31 |
| SINGAPORE | 8 | 16 | 19 | 43 |
| BRUNEI | 2 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| TIMOR-LESTE | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| CAMBODIA | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| LAOS | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
– Bernama
