Full speed ahead:
Swimmer Nur Syaiful breaks eight-year record in style
National para cyclist Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais (back) and her pilot Nurul Shuhada Zainal in action en route to winning the Asian Para Games gold in the 3,000m women’s (B) individual pursuit at the Jakarta International Velodrome yesterday. Inset: Mohamed Ridzuan Puzi bagged the gold medal in the men’s long jump T36 (cerebral palsy), taking his gold medal tally in the Games to three yesterday.
KUALA LUMPUR: Swimmer Muhammad Nur Syaiful Zulkifli made a memorable debut by breaking an eight-year men’s 50m freestyle S5 Asian Para Games record twice en route to winning gold at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatic Centre.
It was also a glorious day for Malaysia yesterday when they won three more gold medals through Mohamed Ridzuan Puzi in the men’s long jump T36 (cerebral palsy), Nur Azlia Syafinaz Mohd Zais in the women’s (B) 3000m individual pursuit (cycling), and the men’s trios of Abu Bakar Nyat, Mohd Azrin Rahim and Zahidi Lamsah (bowling).
But the day belonged to the 23-year-old Nur Syaiful.
He clocked a personal best of 35.54 in the morning’s heat to erase the previous time of 35.56 set by Vo Thanh Tung of Vietnam in Guangzhou in 2010.
And eight hours later in the final, he continued his smashing form by going even faster with a time of 34.09 to break the record again.
Thanh Tung clocked 34.40 to bag silver while China’s Li Junsheng clocked 36.49 to finish third.
Nur Syaiful was thrilled to bits to break the Games record twice.
“After breaking the record in the heats, I knew I can go faster in the final. But I surprised myself by improving my personal best by more than a second in eight hours,” said Nur Syaiful, whose previous best was 34.78, which he set in the Asean Para Games in Kuala Lumpur last year.
“This is my career’s best achievement. I’m happy to beat two-time gold medallist Thanh Tung to win the gold.”
In cycling, Nur Azlia, who suffers from congenital blindness since birth, clocked 4:03.839 to bag the gold in the 3000m indi- vidual pursuit.
The 20-year-old Nur Azlia, who only took up cycling 20 months ago, was happy to deliver the second gold after winning the individual road race event earlier.
“I won three golds in the Asian Para Championships in Nilai in
February and I was confident to do the same in this Games,” said Nur Azlia, who won golds in sprint, individual pursuit and 1km time trial in Nilai.
“I’m delighted to bag two golds and one silver in the Games. It is a good career boost for me.”
Ridzuan jumped in joy after soaring to a new distance of 5.49m to break his own Games record of 5.42m, which he set in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014.
It was his third gold medal in the Games after winning the 100m with a world record time and the 400m event.
Malaysian athletes also bagged three silvers through Jonathan Wong Kar Gee in the men’s long jump (T12); cyclist Mohd Khairul Hazwan in the men’s (B) 4000m individual pursuit and Mohamad Yusof Hafizi, Mohd Najib Turano and Ahmad Tarmizi Zuhairie in the men’s C1-5 team sprint.
Nur Syahida Tajudin won the bronze in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit.