'Have respect, don't blame other countries' - Malaysia Paralympics team head

 

Malaysian internet users were advised to stop criticising Ukraine and to remain calm over the current situation regarding the country’s contingent at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.

Chef de mission Megat D Shahriman Zaharudin reminded the public to set a better example so as to avoid painting a bad image of the country in the eyes of others.

“We are all civilised people and have high respect for others; let’s show a good example.

“Don’t blame other countries. Instead, we must improve ourselves to become better human beings. I understand that some Malaysians are angry with the decision but what is most important is that we must move forward,” he told Bernama.

Megat said this when asked to comment on attacks of social media accounts owned by Ukrainian athletes and the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee following the recent controversial decision in the men’s shot put F20 (intellectual impairment) category at the Tokyo Paralympics.

On Tuesday (Aug 31), national athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli (above) was denied the gold medal in the men’s F20 shot put event. His throw of a distance of 17.94m was also a new world record for the event.

He was classified as Did Not Start (DNS) following a protest lodged by Ukraine, that claimed Ziyad was late to enter the call room.

Ukraine’s Maksym Koval was announced as the gold medallist with a throw of 17.34m, breaking Ziyad’s previous world record of 17.29m that he  set at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.

Yesterday, World Para Athletics (WPA) rejected Malaysia’s appeal, but the Organising Committee stated that all protests and follow-up appeals could be made by writing to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and WPA once the Games are over.

The disqualification of Ziyad’s gold medal was based on World Para Athletics Rule 5.5 – ‘Failure to Report to the Call Room’ - which states that in case athletes are not present in the call room at the relevant time as published in the Call Room schedule, they will be shown in the results as DNS (Did Not Start).

Megat said he respected the decision taken by Ukraine as they had the right to protest with regard to the result of the shot put event as allowed in the rules.

He also appealed to all Malaysians to forget about the incident and refocus as well as unite to support the national athletes in their mission to meet the three-gold target at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Meanwhile, Megat, who is also the Paralympic Council of Malaysia (PCM) president, said he respected Australia’s decision in admitting their mistake which resulted in their athlete Todd Hodgetts being classified as DNS as well.

According to him, he will leave it to a committee that has been set up to investigate the issue in Tokyo and that he would announce any further developments once the Paralympics are over.

“Let us proceed and forget whatever happened. We have more athletes to concentrate (on). I believe we can win more medals here,” he said.

Malaysia’s quest for medals now rests on:

• 2016 Rio gold medallists Mohamad Ridzuan Mohamad Puzi (men’s 100m T36)
• Abdul Latif Romly (men’s long jump T20)
• Wong Kar Gee (men’s long jump T13)
• S Suresh (archery)
• Cheah Liek Hou (badminton)
• Brenda Anellia Larry (swimming).

The Tokyo Paralympics will end on Sunday (Sept 5).

- Bernama