Para athlete Abdul Latif outshines the rest in KL Open
KUALA LUMPUR: Para athlete Abdul Latif Romly (pic) stole the thunder on the second day of the Kuala Lumpur Open Athletics Championships by doing better than the able-bodied athletes.
He upstaged Indonesian Asian Games-bound Luqman Hakim Ramlan to shatter the long-standing men’s long jump meet record en route to winning the gold medal.
The 21-year-old from Kangar was in top form as he made a personal best jump of 7.85m at the National Sports Council (NSC) Training Track in Bukit Jalil yesterday to erase the 27-year-old record of 7.57m set by Mohd Zakri Sadri in 1991.
His effort was just three centimetres short of the national record of 7.88m set by Josbert Tinus in Bangkok in 2007.
Luqman, who will feature in the Asian Games in two weeks time, won the silver with a jump of 7.73m and his effort was way off his personal best of 7.82m.
Andre Anura Anuar of Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) bagged the bronze with a leap of 7.56m.
Two-time world para athlete champion Abdul Latif was thrilled to bit with his efforts.
“I’ve never expected to upstage able-bodied athletes to do a personal best and break the meet record,” said Abdul Latif, whose previous best was 7.60m, which he did at the 2016 Rio Paralympics to win gold.
“It was a dream come true to improve my personal best by 25 centimetres and I came very close to breaking the national record.
“I’m optimistic that I can further improve my personal best. I’m looking forward to doing it in the Asian Para Games in Jakarta (from Oct 6-13).
“I want to win my third consecutive gold in the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai next year,” added Abdul Latif, won golds in the World Championships in Leon, France in 2015 and in London with a jump of 7.37m last year.
Paralympics athletics head coach R. Jaganathan praised Abdul Latif for his tremendous progress in competitions.
“His effort of 7.85m is the third- best mark set by Malaysian long jumpers in a competition. Abdul Latif is on the right track for three major competitions – Asian Para Games in October, next year’s World Para Athletics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics,” said Jaganathan.
Meanwhile, Asian Games-bound high jumpers Lee Hup Wei and Nauraj Singh Randhawa made it a 1-2 finish after clearing heights of 2.26m and 2.23m respectively. Norshafiee Mohd Shah cleared 2.10m to bag the bronze.
Said the 31-year-old Hup Wei, who had aimed to better his personal best of 2.28m: “I failed in all my three attempts. I need to improve ahead of my third Asian Games.”