KUALA LUMPUR: On a day athletics delivered five Asean Para Games gold medals for Malaysia at the National Stadium, two of them turned out to be pleasant surprises.
The first was when 16-year-old Eddy Bernard won gold in the T37 (cerebral palsy) 100m race, when he clocked 12.45s in his big stage debut.
And then Olympian Siti Noor Iasah surprised the gallery in the women's T20 800m (learning disability) category by clocking 2:34.12, because the 400m runner had just started training for the longer distance a month ago.
Those who watched Siti run the race of her life at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the T20 400m would surely remember how she was 'cheated' of a bronze medal.
Neck-and-neck with Poland's world record holder Barbara Niewiedzial for the bronze medal, the Pole dived and fell at the finish line to steal the medal.
And this is Siti's first competitive race since Rio.
"Yes, I did feel disappointed not winning an Olympic bronze, but it did not break me. It only taught me to be more resilient and that's why I ran my first 800m race today (yesterday).
"I wanted to try something new, and even though I only started endurance training for the 800 a month ago, I still managed to win gold," Siti said.
On Wednesday, she will be running in her pet event – the 400m – and does not expect her party to be spoiled by another diver at the finish line.
"I don't know the athletes who will be competing with me in the 400, but for sure, I will better my time and win a medal this time around," she said.
She clocked 58.55s in the semi-finals in Rio, and hopes to dip below 60 seconds again on Wednesday.