Ministry will propose to cabinet a reward for shot put athlete Ziyad

 

The Ministry of Youth and Sports will propose to the cabinet an appropriate reward for national shot put athlete Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli to appreciate his achievement at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu said they never took into account a disqualification when drawing up the policy of rewarding athletes who achieved success in sports.

“It never crossed our mind that if such an incident occurred, how we would reward the athlete. This is an isolated case, a bit like the Covid-19 pandemic which, at first, no country knew what to do… just like Muhammad Ziyad’s case.

“So, I wish to propose to the cabinet the possibility of looking at this matter as it is a bit isolated and never happened before,” he said.

Faizal was speaking at a press conference at a "handing over of duty" ceremony at the ministry's office in Putrajaya today.

On Tuesday (Aug 31), sports fans were shocked by the incident in Tokyo where Ziyad 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, who claimed Ziyad was late to enter the call room.

Ukraine’s Maksym Koval was then 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.

The disqualification means Ziyad will miss out on the RM1 million reward under the National Sports Incentives Scheme (Shakam) for winning a Paralympic gold medal as well as an additional reward of RM100,000 from FWD Takaful.

Local media previously reported that several parties urged for the Shakam reward to be given to  Ziyad as appreciation for his sacrifices and achievements in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Faizal said the cabinet members each had a responsibility to their respective ministries and also for every expenditure incurred.

“Expenditure by the ministries, which is the government, is the people’s money and we have to be responsible for what we spend," he said.

Former Youth and Sports Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican, meanwhile, said he was optimistic the reward proposal would be welcomed by the cabinet, which has several former youth and sports ministers, including Annuar Musa, Hishammuddin Hussein, and Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar.

- Bernama