PHNOM PENH, May 9 — Having retained the bronze medal in the 2023 SEA Games, national para athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli is all pumped up to grab the shot put gold medal in the F20 (intellectual impairment) category at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France.
Muhammad Ziyad is also proud that he managed to maintain his performance despite taking on able-bodied athletes in his fourth outing in the SEA Games since the 2017 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
"Getting to compete for the fourth time at the age of 33 in the SEA Games has motivated me to make a name for myself at the 2024 Paralympics.
"I want to bring back a medal for Malaysia,” he said when met after the third day of the 2023 SEA Games athletics competitions at the Morodok Techo National Stadium, here, today.
Earlier, he hurled the shot put to a distance of 17.30 metres (m) on his third attempt to clinch bronze while Thailand’s Jakkapat Noisri (17.84m) took gold and Vietnam’s Thanh Binh Phan (17.39m) settled for silver.
Another Malaysian, Jonah Chang Rigan (16.67m) came in fourth.
Commenting on his performance today, Muhammad Ziyad admitted that a mistake in his throwing technique cost him dearly, thus, denying him the chance to improve on his bronze-medal achievement in the 2021 SEA Games edition in Hanoi, Vietnam.
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Muhammad Ziyad was denied the gold medal in the men's F20 shot put event despite his world record-breaking attempt of 17.94m.
The 31-year-old athlete was classified as ‘Did Not Start’ (DNS) following protests lodged by the Ukrainian team, who claimed he was late to report the call room prior to the event.
The decision saw Ukrainian athlete Maksym Koval announced as the gold medalist with a throw of 17.34m, which was also declared as the new world record, beating Muhammad Ziyad's 17.29m-throw at the 2017 World Paralympic Championships in London. — Bernama
