PETALING JAYA: Ziyad Zolkefli now has in his possession a complete set of Paralympic medals.
The 34-year-old claimed a silver medal for Malaysia at the Paris Paralympics in the men’s F20 (intellectual disability) shot putt final on Tuesday night.
Ziyad confirmed his silver medal placing after his third attempt yielded 17.18m at the Stade de France.
Ziyad tried in vain to improve on his position but had to settle for silver as Ukrainian Oleksandr Yarovyi proved unbeatable in Paris.
The 25-year-old broke the world record twice, with his fourth attempt of 17.61m proving to be the winning leap.
Teammate Maksym Koval, who previously held the world record of 17.34m from the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago, settled for bronze with a throw of 16.99m.
Ziyad missed out on becoming the second gold medallist for Malaysia in Paris after shuttler Cheah Liek Hou but is still a very proud man.
Ziyad thus erased his heartbreaking experience from Tokyo where he was forced to return empty handed despite recording a world record attempt of 17.94m in the final round.
The organisers in Tokyo acted on a complaint from Ukraine camp that Ziyad had arrived three minutes late for the event and decided to strip him of the gold medal.
Ziyad previously took bronze in London in 2012 before stepping up to claim gold in Rio de Janeiro four years later.
It is the second medal in para athletics for Malaysia in Paris. Eddy Bernard bagged a bronze medal in the men’s 100m T44 final on Sunday.
Source Agencies
