PARIS, Sept 8 — The silver medal won by defending champion Datuk Abdul Latif Romly in the men’s T20 (intellectual disability) long jump at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, was surely a bitter pill to swallow for the national contingent here, today.
The result saw the national contingent fail to meet the target of four golds that had been chanted before, even though national powerlifter Jong Yee Khie is still with a chance to add to his personal medal collection in the men’s 107 kilogram (kg) category at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena before the Paris 2024 games draws down its curtain tomorrow.
What was even more painful for Latiff Romly and the Malaysian contingent during the competition at the Stade de France was watching Matvei Lakushev who competed under the Neutral Paralympic Athlete ticket snatch the gold in his final attempt with a record of 7.51m.
Until that final attempt by Lakushev, Latif Romly, the gold medal winner in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 editions was looking destined for gold after leading the rest of the field with a jump of 7.45m which was also his season’s best.
The distances registered today by the lad from Perlis was also well below his Paralympic Games record of 7.60m set during the Rio 2016 games to win the gold or the World Record of (7.64m) that he had set during the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Yee Khie faces a tall order and a mighty challenge to finish on the podium after winning silver in Tokyo 2020 as he is now ranked fifth best in the world with his best total weight of 230kg.
His teammate Nicodemus Manggoi Moses, did not manage to win a medal for Malaysia when he was ranked seventh in the men’s up to 97 kilogram (kg) event.
In cycling, national para rider Muhammad Adi Raimie Amizazahan managed to finish in the top 20 places in the men’s C1-3 (physical disability) road race held in Clichy-sous-bois, here.
The 23-year-old rider, making his first appearance on the Paralympic stage, finished the 71-kilometer race in 16th place with a time of 1 hour 56 minutes 23 seconds (s).
Another Malaysian rider Mohamad Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin clocked 2:08.46s to finish in 26th position. — Bernama
