PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Ziyad Zolkefli and Abdul Latif Romly clinched their third consecutive gold medals for the country at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou. Ziyad retained his gold in the F20 (intellectual disability) shot put event with a throw of 16.65m. Mohd Aliff Awi won the silver with a distance of 13.75m, while Sanepoot Boonkong of Thailand took bronze with 13.67m. Ziyad had previously won gold at the Asian Para Games in Jakarta-Palembang as well.
In the long jump event, Abdul Latif secured the gold with a leap of 7.18m. Zulkifly Abdullah won the bronze for Malaysia with a distance of 6.48m. Hassan Nasser Dawshi of Saudi Arabia took the silver with a jump of 6.80m.
Ziyad, who is 33 years old, expressed satisfaction with his performance and dedicated his gold medal to the people of Malaysia. He is now focused on winning the shot put gold at the Paris Paralympics in 2024. Ziyad also expressed pride in achieving a hat-trick of wins at the Asian Para Games, despite the setback he faced at the Tokyo Paralympics where he was disqualified due to a protest from Ukraine.
Abdul Latif, on the other hand, continues to dominate the T20 long jump event. He has previously won gold at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro and the Tokyo Games in 2021. He is now aiming for another hat-trick at the Paris Paralympics.
In other athletics events, Eddy Bernard won a silver medal for Malaysia in the men’s T44 100 final. He finished second with a time of 11.86 seconds, behind Maththaka Gam of Sri Lanka who won gold with a time of 11.63 seconds. Asana Nour Moh of Saudi Arabia took the bronze with a time of 12.07 seconds.
Overall, Malaysia has made a strong impact at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, with Ziyad and Abdul Latif leading the way with their exceptional performances.
