KUALA LUMPUR: Pencapaian 3 pingat emas dan 1 gangsa adalah yang terbaik buat skuad olahraga sepanjang Malaysia menyertai temasya Sukan Paralimpik, kata ketua jurulatih negara, R Jaganathan.
“Ini pencapaian terbaik dalam temasya Sukan Paralimpik. Selain memenangi 3 pingat emas dan 1 gangsa, atlet juga berjaya mencipta 2 rekod dunia, 1 rekod Paralimpik dan 2 rekod Para Asia,” katanya kepada Bernama.
Menurut beliau, kejayaan itu adalah hasil kerja keras dan pengorbanan semua atlet.
“Kejayaan ini juga disebabkan doa seluruh rakyat Malaysia yang mahu melihat kejayaan atlet kita di sini (Rio de Janeiro). Saya ingin merakamkan ucapan terima kasih kepada semua rakyat Malaysia.
"Saya juga berharap sokongan akan terus diberikan kepada kami selepas ini,” katanya.
At the 15th Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Jaganathan said that a total of 9 track and field athletes qualified by merit.
The quest for the first gold medal ended in success on September 10 through Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi in the 100m T36 men’s event (cerebral palsy).
Mohamad Ridzuan recorded a time of 12.07s, erasing Ukrainian Roman Pavlyk’s record of 12.25s set in Beijing in 2008.
An hour after Mohamad Ridzuan’s victory, Malaysia’s success continued with Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli through the men’s shot putt F20 lelaki (learning disability).
Even sweeter, the London 2012 Paralympics bronze winner set a new world record in this first attempt with a distance of 16.40 m and improved it with a distance of 16.84 m in the fifth attempt.
His success erased the world and Paralympic Games record of 16.29 m set by Todd Hodgetts from Australia in London.
Malaysia’s athletes continued their successful run on the next day when Abdul Latif Romly won the third gold medal for Malaysia in the men’s long jump T20 lelaki (learning disability).
He smashed the world record thrice in the second, third and fifth jumps with distances of 7.47 m, 7.54 m and 7.60 m respectively.
Yesterday, Siti Noor Radiah Ismail won a bronze in the women’s long jump event T20 (learning disability) with a new Para Asia record of 5.20m.
Another female athlete, Siti Noor Iasah Mohamad Ariffin may have lost the bronze in the women’s 400m T20 (learning disability), but she managed to set a new Para Asia Games record of 58.55s.
