Against all odds
Hemala overcomes fever, Eddy leaps to second gold
HEMALA Devi Eni Kutty and Eddy Bernard stole the show on the second day of the athletics programme at the Kuala Lumpurp Asean Para Games.
Hemala overcame fever and her rivals to grab her second gold of these Games when she retained the women’s shot putt F11-12 (visual impairment) title at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yeste erday.
The 27-year-old Hemala hurled the iron ball to a distance of 10.09m in her fifth throw. Her effort was more than 3m better than Filipina Jeannette Aceveda’s silver-medal mark of 7.04m. Brunei’s Nor Hensan Mata took the bronze with a throw of 7.03m.
Seven athletes took part and Malaysian Noor Kalsum Fadil finished fifth with a throw of 5.62m.
Hemala, who is featuring in her fifth Asean Para Games and who won the discus gold on Monday with a throw of 32.46m, said that she did not feel well when she woke up yesterday morning.
“I was down with fever. I was worried thatt it would affect my performance, but I told myself that nothing was going to stop me from winning my second medal.
“I toughened myself up and did e nough to win the gold, although it wasn’t my best effort,” said Hemala, who has a personal best of 10.45m in the shot putt. Hemala, who won just one gold — in shot putt — in Singapore in 2015, will be gunning for her third gold when she competes in the javelin tomorrow.
“I hope I can recover by Thursday as I really want to win three golds,” said Hemala, who finished 10th in the shot putt at the 2012 London Paralympics.
Hemala immediately left for the National Sports Institute (NSI) clinic in Bukit Jalil after receiving her medal.
Debutant Eddy, who did a personal best of 12.45 seconds to win the men’s 100m T37 (cerebral palsy) gold on Monday, achieved another personal best en route to winning the long jump gold.
The 16-year-old Sabahan leapt 5.76m in his third attempt to better his previous mark of 5.71m achieved in Kuching last year.
Eddy said that he could not have asked for a better Games debut.
“Winning two golds and achieving two personal bests is an excellent achievement for me. I know I can do much better in both events as I’m still young.
“My focus is to qualify for next year’s Asian Para Games in Jakarta,” said Eddy, a Form Four student of SMK Beluran in Sandakan.