KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is closer to their 10-gold target after earning three-gold medals in Day Two of para swimming at the National Aquatics Centre in Bukit Jalil, today.
The three medals were contributed by Anas Zul Amirul Sidi Abdullah, Yoong Chung Wei and Jamery Siga in the men’s 100m freestyle S14, men’s 50m butterfly S14 and men’s 50m butterfly S5, respectively.
The sweetest win of all was through Anas, the son to three-time Paralympian Zul Amirul Sidi Abdullah, who broke the Games record of 1-minute 02.88s set by Singapore’s Benson Tan back in 2014, when he clocked a time of 59.97s.
“I am just so proud and happy of this win and I dedicate it to my family, especially my dad who will forever be my hero.”
The same category saw Malaysian Zadrian Chan, who won silver in the men’s 200m freestyle yesterday, win the bronze medal after he was beaten by Benson, who recorded a time of 1-minute 01.38s, for the silver.
Chung Wei defended his gold medal in the men’s 50m butterfly S14 when he matched the Games record set by Indonesia’s Daniel Nugroho Wijayanto back in 2014 when he swam to a time of 30.01s.
The 21-year-old has four more events (100m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m individual medley) in the coming days as he dedicated his first win to his family, friends and fellow teammates.
“It feels like I can win it all because I try my best and all of the hard training is just panning out,” said Chung Wei, who competes in the intellectual impairment category.
“I’d like to thank my family and friends as I will try to get more medals.”
The same category saw Daniel and Thailand’s Mongkolchai Chanwit in second and third, respectively.
In the men’s 50m butterfly S5, Jamery Siga recorded a time of 40.16s for the gold medal as teammate Muhammad Nur Syaiful Zulkafli (55.91s) picked up the bronze medal and Myanmar’s Maung Maung Soe (49.11) with the silver medal.
Earlier in the day, Day Two of the competition saw Malaysia gain two silver medals from Jamery (men’s 200m freestyle S5) and Julius Jaranding (men’s 100m freestyle), who also won silver medal in the men’s 50m breaststroke SB13, yesterday.
In addition to the three gold and two silver medals, aside from Zadrian and Syaiful’s bronze medals, James Wong also contributed a bronze medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8 category, swimming to a time of one-minute 24.04s.
Para swimming continues tomorrow as the athletes will vie for the 17-gold medals up on offer.