Muhd Ziyad aims to break own shot put world record
KUALA LUMPUR: Shot put gold medal prospect, Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli said his greatest satisfaction would be to do his personal best and possibly break the record for the event at the ongoing Asian Para Games in Indonesia.
“Besides the Olympic Games, this is the second biggest event which I take seriously and would give 100 per cent focus in my zest to win and make the nation proud,” he said in a statement here today to mark Edra Power Holdings Sdn Bhd’s sponsorship of the Paralympic athletes’ attire.
“I have been training for eight years with athletes from the Malaysian contingent and my target has been to improve my performance each year.
“For me, every year is a new book, we do our best in the hope that the people will accept us as the best athletes in Malaysia,” he added.
Muhammad Ziyad, 28, is world and Paralympic champion, the world record holder and current world number one for the shut put event. He has broken the shot put world record twice, first at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, then at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.
This year, he won gold in the men’s F13/20/46 mixed category of the shot put event at the 10th Fazza International Athletics Championships – World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Chief coach R. Jeganathan Ramasamy, who has been coaching for 18 years, expressed his appreciation for corporate sponsorships such as from Edra Power Holdings, saying it was a recognition of the hard work put in by the athletes to make the country proud despite their challenges.
He acknowledged that it had been hard work for all involved and that people only came to know more about the athletes after they won gold medals at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.
“More corporates and companies are coming forward to show their support and recognition and giving more attention via sponsorships,” he noted.
Besides Muhammad Ziyad for shot put, he is expecting gold to also come from Abdul Latif Romly and Jonathan Wong for long jump, and Muhamad Afiq for sprint.
Malaysia aims to win at least 15 gold medals at the Asian Para Games, held from Oct 6 to13 in Jakarta.
Muhammad Ziyad and Mohamad Ridzuan Puzi made the nation proud when they won Malaysia’s first Paralympic gold medals at the Rio Games in 2016.
Mohamad Ridzuan, who is aiming to win gold in the 100 metres, 400m and long jump, said more sponsorships would encourage physically challenged athletes to excel.
Jennifer Aleeya Wong, AVP, Group Public Affairs for Edra Power Holdings, said Edra would like to play a more active role in Malaysia’s sports development as Paralympic athletes had demonstrated feats of superhuman strength and overcame barriers to succeed and qualify for the Asian Para Games, which in itself is a source of inspiration to many others.
Mohamad Ridzuan, 31, made history as the first Malaysian athlete to win gold in the 100m T37 (cerebral palsy) at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.
Crossing the line at a time of 12.07 seconds, he broke the previous record of 12.25 seconds set by Roman Pavlyk of Ukraine at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.
He won the silver medal in the men’s 100m T36 (cerebral palsy) at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London. Bernama