PARIS: National Para Athletics sprint coach Hamberi Mahat only needed three months to guide Eddy Bernard to contribute the country’s first medal, a bronze from the men’s 100 metres (m) T44 (physical disability), at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
Hamberi described Eddy’s achievement as quite amazing, considering that the sprint event was not the main focus of his charge who had previously participated in the long jump and won gold at the 2022 ASEAN Para Games in Solo, Indonesia.
Hamberi, a former national sprinter said it all started when he discovered the talent of the 23-year-old athlete who had good speed for a distance of 60 meters (m) when competing in the long jump event.
“I told coach Shahrul Amri Suhaimi that Eddy had great potential to win medals at the Paralympic Games but needs to push up more by adding speed and endurance as the speed in the last 40m was still lacking.
“After winning silver in the men’s 100m T44 at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games, coach Shahrul told me that he could not help Eddy for the event in Paris 2024 and that is why he handed it over to me around April this year,” he told Bernama.
Despite having trained Eddy for just a month, Hamberi managed to prove his midas touch by helping him to win a silver medal at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, last May.
However, he admitted that he still needs to strengthen Eddy’s running technique for the last 40m after this and Hamberi was optimistic that with better preparations, the athlete from Beluran, Sabah could shine by winning gold or silver at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
At the same time Hamberi admired Eddy’s high commitment during training sessions and that his efforts were really worth it to embody the first medal for the country in the city of Paris.
“Not only did he win bronze on his debut at the Paralympics, Eddy’s 11.58 seconds (s) shattered the Asian Games record of 11.75s set by Sri Lanka’s Indika Gamage at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Mpumelelo Mhlongo took gold with a time of 11.12 seconds, while Cuba’s Yamel Luis Vives Suares took silver with a time of 11.20s.
