KUALA LUMPUR, 19 Sept 2017:
The Malaysian athletics team made a fruitful harvest on the first day of track and field events of the 9th ASEAN Para Games (APG) by winning six gold medals at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here yesterday.
Rio Paralympics (2016) bronze medal winner Siti Noor Radiah Ismail set the tone for a fruitful harvest at the National Stadium by winning the women’s T20 long jump gold with a distance of 4.99m – ahead of another Malaysian Nani Shahiera Zawawi who managed 4.78m for the silver while Indonesia’s Tiwa settled for the bronze with a jump of 4.66m.
Young sprinter Eddy Bernard,16, swept to gold in the men’s 100m T37 (coordination impairments) with a time of 12.45s ahead of fellow Malaysian Jacklon Ganding (12.48s) and Le Van Manh from Vietnam who clocked 12.68s for the bronze.
Muhamad Afiq Mohamad Ali contributed Malaysia’s third gold from the men’s 100m T12 en route to beating two Thai runners – Chaiya Som-Dech and Wongngoen Amnat – after clocking 11.45s.
Faridul Masri contributed the fourth gold of the day from the men’s F56 javelin with a throw of 28.86m, beating Vietnam’s Trinh Cong Luan (24.2m) by a good 4m while Hirdan Abdul Kadi from Brunei took the bronze with a distance of (22.17m).
Middle distance runner Siti Noor Lasah Mohamad Ariffin made it five after winning the women’s 800m T20 with a time of 2 minutes 34.12 seconds in a 1-2 finish for Malaysia as Maswinah Suanang took the silver with a time of 2:41.24s ahead of Thailand’s Phoophaploy Wipha who finished a distant third (3:01.80s).
The sixth gold medal of the day came through Hemala Dewi from the women’s F12 discus who hurled the discus 32.46m, a good 8m further than second placed Nor Hensan Mata from Brunei (24m) while another Malaysia, Noor Kalsum Fadil, won the bronze with a throw of (18.46m).
Separately, host Malaysia set an unprecedented record of making a clean sweep of all 12 gold medals offered in track cycling at the track cycling events.
After making a clean sweep of all seven gold medals at stake on Sunday, Malaysian cyclists kept the winning momentum going strongly by making a clean sweep of all five gold medals at stake yesterday – thus surpassing the 10-gold target set by the Malaysian contingent.
The first golden ride yesterday belonged to Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais, 19, who clocked 4 minutes 04.633 seconds to beat Singapore’s Emily Lee (4:25.184s) for her third gold medal in the games with her guide Nuraudillina Adila J.Sam.
The second gold came from Muhammad Amin Najmi Romzi from the men’s (B) 4km Individual pursuit with his guide Muhammad Firdaus Mohd Zonis after setting a time of 4:55.501s to beat Muhammad Afiq Afify Rizan in a 1-2 finish for Malaysia.
Shukor Farhan Suliman came on the track to contribute the third gold medal from the men’s 3km Individual pursuit (C1, C2, C3) after leading a clean sweep of the top three places after clocking 4:06.204s ahead of Muhd Nabil Rosli and Nur Faizah Aziz who set times of 4:48.871s and 4:57.898s respectively.
Mohd Najib Turano swept the men’s (C4) 4km Individual pursuit gold with a time of 5:10.010s, beating Indonesia’s Muhammad Fadlu Immamuddin who managed 5:20.106s for the silver.
Zuhairie Ahmad Tarmizi added the icing on the cake for the Malaysian cycling team by winning the final race competed in track cycling with a time of 5:06.968s in the men’s (C5) Individual pursuit ahead of Arthus Eustaquio Bucay from the Philippines who clocked 5:15.574s.
With track cycling events coming to a close, all eyes would be on road race events held tomorrow and Thursday at Dataran Putrajaya, offering 12 gold medals.
Malaysia have targetted four gold medals from road race.
Thailand however, were the big winner on the first day of track and field competitions by sweeping nine of the 21 gold medals at stake while Indonesia also won six gold medals.
| COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| INDONESIA | 22 | 9 | 12 | 43 |
| MALAYSIA | 18 | 19 | 9 | 46 |
| THAILAND | 12 | 13 | 14 | 39 |
| VIETNAM | 8 | 9 | 6 | 23 |
| MYANMAR | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| SINGAPORE | 1 | 5 | 7 | 13 |
| PHILIPPINES | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| LAOS | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| CAMBODIA | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| BRUNEI | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| TIMOR-LESTE | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
– Bernama