Para athlete Latif outjumps the field to win long jump event

PARA athlete Abdul Latif Romly was nursing a right ankle injury but he still jumped the furthest than all the 16 able-bodied athletes.

The Perlis lad put the able-bodied athletes to shame by retaining the gold in the boy’s long jump event at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh yesterday despite the wet condition due to light shower in the morning.

Abdul Latif registered a distance of 7.46m in the third jump but his effort was way off his personal best of 7.85m he set at the Kuala Lumpur Open Championships in Bukitt Jalil last month.

Sabah’s Andre Anura Anuarr made a leap of 7.39m to bag thee silver while Muhamad Nazri Mustafa of Kedah took the bronze with 7.28m.

The 21-year-old Abdul Latif was not satisfied with his performance as he wanted to break the Games record of 7.55m set by Mohd Hazuan Zainal Abidin of Perak in Sabah in 2002.

“This is my third and last MMalaysia Games ( Sukma) but I ccould not break the record. I picked up the injury a week ago in training and was not at my beest,” said the Rio Paralympic gogold medallist.

“The injury made it tough for me to take off from the board with my right foot. The wet condition also made it difficult for me to make good jumps.

He has won a total of two golds and one bronze in three Sukma Games.

“Hopefully, I’ll be in better form to defend my title in the Asian Para Games (Oct 6-13 in Jakarta). I want to improve my mark of 7.01m, which I did in Incheon four years ago,” added the two-time world para athletics champion.

Ngu Jia Xin of Perak took the gold in the girl’s high jump event with a height of 1.66m but she was unhappy too.

“I failed in all three attempts to clear 1.69m,” said Jia Xin, whose personal best is 1.71m.