KUALA LUMPUR: National para athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli is still yearning for a paralympic gold medal after he was ‘denied’ as the medal winner at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
In the episode, the 34-year-old athlete was classified as Did Not Start (DNS) following a protest by the Ukrainian team who claimed the shot putter was late reporting to the waiting room before the competition.
Describing himself at his best level compared to eight years ago when he first won the gold medal in the Rio 2016 edition, Ziyad is now confident of bringing the gold medal back to Malaysian soil at the four-yearly Games in the Paris 2024 edition.
“It’s been a long wait because it was bronze in 2012, gold in 2016, the drama in 2021, and in 2024 God willing, I will put up my best performance because I’m not young anymore (but) competing with young people. I want to prove that age is not a deterrent as long as we put in the efforts.
“Earlier, if you can do 16.5m or more, you can feel free, now even 17m doesn’t determine winning gold (at the Paralympics). In fact, my Asian record of 17.43m does not determine the gold medal, so I have to go 17.8m or further,“ he said.
But Ziyad expects fierce competition from athletes from other countries such as Ukraine, France and Turkey at the Paris Paralympics.
Ziyad previously won the men’s shot put event F20 (intellectual record) at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan with a throw of 17.43m.
Even sweeter, the throw at the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium saw him better his own Asian record of 17.29m at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.
Ziyad’s participation in the Rio 2016 Paralympics previously saw him record a throw of 16.84m to bring home the gold medal for Malaysia.
But the controversy at Tokyo 2022 saw the Ukrainian athlete, Maksym Koval announced as the gold winner with a throw of 17.34m thus breaking Muhammad Ziyad’s world record of 17.29m which was done at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will take place from August 28 to September 8.
