KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Malaysia has created history by winning two gold medals at the Rio Paralympics in Brazil, and etching one of the victories by setting a new world record.
The first gold medal was won by Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi yesterday in the 100m T36 (celebral palsy) event and the second by Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli with a new world record in the men's shot put F20 (intellectual disability) event, also yesterday.
Malaysia has won medals previously at the paralympics, but only silver and bronze.
At the Rio Olympic Stadium, Mohamad Ridzuan dashed across the finish line of the 100m T36 in 12.07 seconds, ahead of Yang Yifei of China (12.20s) and Rodrigo Parreira da Silva of Brazil (12.54s).
Muhammad Ziyad hurled the shot a distance of 16.84 metres to clinch the world record and the gold on his fifth attempt.
He erased the previous world record of 16.29m set by Todd Hodgetts of Australia at the London Paralympics in 2012.
Dimitrios Senikidis of Greece won the silver medal in Rio with a throw of 16.17m and Hodgetts took the bronze medal with a throw of 15.82m. — Bernama
