Ridzuan expects big threat from China at world meet

KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Ridzuan Mohd Puzi can expect a stiff challenge from China’s sprinters as he seeks to defend the men’s 100m gold in the World Para Athletics Championships in London from July 14-23.

Ridzuan had clocked 12.08 seconds to win gold in the T36 (cerebral palsy) category of the World Para Championships in Doha, Qatar, two years ago.

He then clocked a new record of 12.07 at the Rio Paralympics last September. It erased the previous Paralympic mark of 12.25 set by Ukraine’s Roman Pavlyk in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

National Paralympic chief coach R. Jaganathan admitted that the sprinters from China would definitely pose a threat to Ridzuan “as they have made progress in competitions this year”.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Ridzuan will be able to get on the podium,” he said.

Malaysia won two golds in Doha, with Ziyad Zolkefli contributing the other in men’s F20 shot putt (intellectual impairment).

Malaysia have again set a two-gold target and will be banking on Ziyad and Abdul Latif Romli F20 long jump (intellectual impairment) to deliver the goods.

“I’m confident Ziyad can do well in London after achieving a personal best of 17.07m to win gold in the Thailand Open (able-bodied athletes) last week,” said Jaganathan.

The 27-year-old Ziyad broke the world record with a throw of 16.84m to bag gold at the Rio Paralympics.

Seven athletes – five men and two women – will feature in the 10-day competition in London.

The other male athletes are Mohd Saifuddin Ishak in the T12 long jump (visual impairment) and Nasharuddin Mohamed in the T20 400m (intellectual impairment).

Siti Noor Lasah Ariffin will compete in the T20 400m and long jump (intellectual impairment) and Siti Noor Radiah Ismail in the T20 long jump in women’s competition.

Jaganathan said the seven athletes will leave for London on June 29 and be based at the Brunel Universiti for the duration of the world meet.